Changes
by DigitalAngel4U
Summary: When Lance and Pietro begin to develop powerful new abilities, who will they turn to for help? Who else but the Xmen. But will this change everything? Read and find out. Lancitty, Scouge and JeanPietro.More to come. Rated for strong language.
1. Changes

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of X-men: Evolution and am absolutely making no money off this, it's totally for your enjoyment. Sooooooo....enjoy it! Please review. I'll take praise, constructive criticism even flames (as long as there not stupid). All is welcome! I want to know what you think!  
  
Changes  
  
Chapter 1  
Being invisible and becoming in tune with nature.  
  
'Ignore them.' His brain told him as a reflex. He winced as he felt a bottle break at his feet. "Get lost freak!" yelled a football player as he leaned dangerously over the light metal rail of the school football field screaming profanities with the rest of his little buddies.  
Blood dripped from Pietro's hands on account of the pressure he was applying to them. 'Ignore them.Ignorethem.Ignorethem!' he repeated to himself. Todd's voice crept up on his ears unexpectedly. "Yo, maybe coming back to school wasn't such a good idea." The young mutant stated, his voice shaking slightly.  
Pietro licked his chapped lips as his voice came out, portraying much more confidence then he actually had. "Shut up Toad." He told the boy. 'The last thing we need,' he thought to himself, 'is for Todd to start doubting himself in times like this.'  
"Leave Freaks!"  
"Get lost fucking Muties!  
"Rot in hell freaks!"  
  
'Ignore them..' His hands shook. Wanda was pissed. Todd was scared. Freddy was embarrassed, and Lance wasn't speaking to him. This sucked. The shouts pounded in his head. Teeth bared, hands bleeding, he shook. 'Ignore them. Ignore them..'  
Suddenly he felt the ground begin to shake. What the hell did Lance think he was doing! He spun around on his heel to look for his teammate and former friend. Glass from the street light burst onto many of the unexpecting hecklers, and before Pietro could blink (which had to be fast) a car blew to the air. Flipping up skyward as it exploded.  
He looked to Wanda as if demanding an explanation. She shrugged in response. As if saying it was not her. They came back to school after all this, practically begging the dumb principal to give them another chance and this is what happened? Not if he could help it.  
"Guys get inside!" he yelled. He waited for one of them to argue. No one did. They complied as he turned around, his sapphire eyes searching for Lance as he fought to ignore the rush of bodies moving swiftly past him in pandemonium. What the hell was going on?  
  
Lance clutched his head as he fell to the ground in pain. His knees scraped the cement as he tried desperately to tune out the screaming. He had been so mad..furious. At first his powers had simply began to act up.but then the light, then the car. It seemed as he got angrier or more pained things began to explode.  
'Okay' he breathed deeply as he tried to calm himself, 'just breathe.' It took every ounce of control and self-discipline he had to calm himself down. But suddenly things stopped to explode. He smiled as he stood shakily.  
"Lance!" he heard being called as he stood, "Lance!" Looking over to the source of the voice he spotted Pietro. "What on Earth?" he voiced aloud in confusion. He was standing right in front of him. How could he possibly not see him?  
He walked right up to the dove haired boy as he began to wave his hand in front of him. He couldn't possibly be...? But Pietro couldn't see him.. Invisible? He saw the concerned look that the boy had etched on his face.  
Lance began to realize the dilemma. "Oh shit. How do I become visible?" Could Pietro hear him? "Pietro!" he directed. No luck. How was he to fix this? But more importantly why was this happening? And how was he going to control it? They had just gotten used to the idea of being a team again, and coming back to school was a large step for them. Especially now that the world had been exposed to mutants.  
"Pietro!" he called as the younger mutant flew past him swiftly, probably to extend his search. "Shit!" he cursed as he ran in the direction he had come. School was about to start!  
  
Jean stared out the window of Scotts car, worry etched all over her face. Where was the Brotherhood? She knew from experience that the student body wasn't the most accepting of mutants.  
She felt Scott's hand on her shoulder and she sighed knowing that he knew what she was troubled over. "Don't worry about it Jean. They can take care of themselves." He reassured her.  
"I'm aware of that Scott, but they always use their powers. What if someone gets hurt? And now are the times when mutants need to stick together. No matter of past confliction." She told him. Looking up to his ruby clad gaze, she wondered what his eyes looked like at that moment.  
She sighed. Those thoughts weren't for her anymore; she had called off their relationship saying that with all chaos she couldn't give the relationship the attention it needed. He, being Scott, had understood and promised to move on, just like she had asked him too. Even though he hadn't yet.  
"She's right Scott. We need to stick together. I think we should split up and look for them. Make sure that everything is alright." Rouge said as she hopped over the door of the car. Kitty nodded as she phased out of the car.  
"Okay," Scott began, "Jean and I-" But he was cut off by Kitty, who knew that the last thing Jean needed was to be alone with Scott when she still had feelings for him. "I think you and Rouge should check out the places they normally hung out while me and Jean go to the places Jean might pick up on." Scott looked as if for a moment he was going to argue, but instead nodded as Rouge drug him off.  
"Thanks," Jean said kindly, "I needed that." Kitty shrugged, "No problem. And besides," she said motioning to the other two mutants as they walked off, "You wanted Scott to move on. And I think I found the right person."  
Jean tilted her head to the side. Scott needed someone who could understand him and Rouge needed someone that could help her understand that the world wasn't filled with only pain, but love too. She smiled, "I think you did too."  
"Good!" Kitty giggled clapping her hands together, "Let's go find Lance!" Jean looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Hehe..I meant the Brotherhood." Jean shook her head, "Right Kitty...whatever you say." They ran off to the football field where Jean sensed a member of the Brotherhood. Problem was.they didn't know which one.  
  
Pietro collapsed next to a large oak tree as he took a break from looking for Lance. Glancing at his watch he noticed that there was only thirty minutes until school began. He had to find Lance, and soon. But he was just so tired. Why?  
'You okay there, kid?' asked a small squeaky voice from above him. He looked up blinking as he did so. No one was there. "What the hell." he trailed off. Suddenly he was hit in the head with an...acorn?  
"That's it!" he voiced out loud, "I am as of now officially freaked!" He shrieked and fell backwards as he was bombarded by more acorns. As he opened his eyes he came nose to nose with a small squirrel.  
"Oh sweet God don't bite me, please," he begged the squirrel, "The last thing I need is rabies!" Then all of a suddenly the squirrel....talked? "Well I never!" said the squeaky voice that Pietro had heard earlier. "AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Pietro screamed as he jumped up and the squirrel fell off his chest.  
The squirrel sighed, "First human to understand me and he has to be crazy!" it complained. Pietro looked at the squirrel and did the next thing any other teen would do in his situation. He fainted of course.  
  
Jeans head snapped to the side as she heard a scream. "AHHHHHHHH!!!!" Turning on her heel she headed to the side of the football field. "It came from this way!" she told Kitty as she pointed to an old Oak tree near the end of the field.  
As they reached they found Pietro on the grounds unconscious, the only thing near him was....a squirrel? Kitty and Jean exchanged looks as they tried in vain to get Pietro back to consciousness.  
"Pietro," Jean began as she lightly tapped the side of his pale face. She frowned. Something must have really freaked out the young speed demon if he had passed out. Not to mention he wasn't looking too healthy. 'What could have scared him?' she thought.  
"Look!" Kitty shouted frantically as she pointed to the school parking lot at the chaos and pandemonium that they hadn't even noticed. Kitty jumped to her feet as she began to run to the scene.  
"Kitty, wait!" Jean called as the girl ran off. She sighed knowing she had to stay and wait for Pietro to wake. She only hoped he would hurry so she could find out what exactly was going on.  
  
Kitty ran past the fiery cars and screaming students as she looked for Lance. "Kitt-" she heard her name be called before it was cut off, then it came back, "Kit!" She looked around frantically for the voice as she located the area it had come from. Yet when she looked she saw nothing.  
All of a sudden Lance appeared then flickered away much like Kurt did when he disappeared. Disappeared..that was it! Lance was going invisible! But why could she only hear him when he was visible? And how was she supposed to reach him?  
She sprinted towards where she had last seen him. "Lance!" she called as she phased through anyone or anything that got in her way. Suddenly she ran smack straight into a body she assumed was Lance's seeing as it was not something she had seen.  
Opening her eyes she found herself wrapped in Lance's visible arms. Not embarrassed and more than a little pleased she hugged him. "Lance I'm so sorry." She whispered into his shoulder, "I never meant to hurt you or dump you like that..forgive me?"  
Lance looked down at her almost ready to tell her where she could put her apology, but the moment he looked at her he couldn't. She was lying there with him in the middle of all this chaos with tears shining in her pale blue eyes and was being open to him with her emotions and he couldn't hurt her like that. He nodded dumbly.  
With a smile she threw her arms around his neck. "Lance, what's going on?" she asked as she pulled away from his embrace. "I don't know," he told her truthfully, "I- I think I might be getting some new powers though..."  
  
Pietro groaned as a bright, white light (3 rhymes in a row) invaded his eyes. He could just barley make out the edges of a soft, feminine figure. As he squinted up at her angelic outline he could not determine who she was. Sure he believed in God but he doubted he would ever go to heaven.  
"Ugh. There aren't supposed to be angels in Hell!" he moaned. He heard a soft giggle, "You aren't in Hell and I'm not an angel."  
He blinked open one bright blue eye, then another. Jean Grey? He sat up swiftly. "I knew that!" he told her arrogantly not wanting to let the enemy have any advantage over him.  
"Whatever ya say kid you know you got the hots for her!" said the same damn squirrel from earlier. Hr jumped up and ignoring Jean began to interrogate the squirrel. "Okay first off," He began to rant, "You're a squirrel. How can you even talk? Number two! I do not have the hots for anyone in this general area and lastly, why the Hell do you have a Brooklyn accent. And why the Hell am I talking to a squirrel!?"  
The squirrel shrugged, "If you can understand me it either means you're in tune with nature or..... you can control it."  
Jean whom had never been more confused in her life looked back and forth between the squirrel and Pietro. "Pietro," she began gently, "I can't understand you. You're going to have to speak English."  
Pietro's head snapped towards her and a look ran over his face as if he just realized she was there. "I was speaking English." He said yet she shook her head to him.  
"Pietro.. can you talk to animals?" she asked him. "I don't know. but that squirrel said something about controlling nature. That if I could talk to him I was either in tune with it or could control it."  
"I think you should come with me to the professor." she trailed off. Too freaked out to argue with her he said, "Hold on, I want to try something." She watched as he waked up to a random tree. He closed his eyes and stuck his hands out, palms up.  
Jean sighed waiting till he was done being silly. Yet all of a sudden the tree's branches began to swing viciously and it's roots tore out of the ground, lighting struck behind her as the Earth began to shake.  
Was Pietro doing this? 'Controlling nature. He was either in tune with it or could control it! He was doing this! He just couldn't control it!  
"Sorry," she whispered knowing she had to stop this before it turned the school to rubble. Closing her eyes she used her powers to knock him out. She had to get him to the Professor quick.  
She bent down and picked up Pietro's slight form surprised at how little he weighed. "Jean!" she heard a shout. Turning around she saw Lance and Kitty running towards her, Lance looking bloody and exhausted.  
"We've got to see the Professor!" they both shouted at the same time. "Why for you?" asked Jean quickly as she met up with them and reluctantly let Lance take Pietro.  
Kitty walked along side her as they headed to the car. "Lace is developing new powers." She explained breathlessly. Jean nodded, "So is Pietro." She told the younger girl.  
"Weird," Kitty began, "I'll tell Scott that we're-" but she was cut off. "Already sent him a mental note (no pun intended) so he knows what's going on." Jean informed her.  
"Good," Lance said as they climbed in the car, "Can we hurry now so we can see Baldy and find out what the fuck is going on here?" he barked frantically as he laid Pietro down gently.  
"You know Kitty," Jean whispered to her, "You really need to up your taste in guys." Kitty being the mature teen she is stuck her tongue out and imply said, "Just drive."  
Jean nodded as she began speeding out of the burning parking lot, determined to find out how and why this was happening. Little did she know that this would change everything.  
  
DigitalAngel4U: Like it? Love it? I'll put the next chapter up if enough of you like it! Please review! 


	2. A Somewhat Mutual Understanding

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of X-men: Evolution and this story is simply for your enjoyment! So...enjoy it!  
  
Dr. Hank McCoy looked down at the young albino mutant in front of him as he tried to assess the boy's new powers and essential injuries. As he checked the monitor he noted Pietro's head injury.  
Looking over at Jean, whom had remained to check on Pietro's condition, he gave her a raised eyebrow. "Your doing?" he questioned her. She nodded sheepishly. "Well," she began slowly, "Whatever he was doing...whatever it was, It could have injured students...so I had-" she stopped as he held his fuzzy hand up to stop her.  
"You did the right thing." He informed her as a reassurance. She nodded as she rose to look over the Doctor's shoulder.  
"So," Jean began tentatively "What was he doing...out there?" Hank looked at her and put on a thoughtful face. "I believe he has new powers that have to do with natural elements. I'm just not sure how..." he trailed off then perked back up, "But it's nothing a blood sample and a couple of hours of research can't handle. Will you watch him for me? I need to get to work but he may wake soon."  
Jean simply smiled and nodded whilst taking a seat next to the boy as she waited for his awaking for the second time that day.  
  
"Professor!" McCoy ran breathlessly to the professor's office with a manila folder in hand. Xavier looked up, surprise etched all over his face. "Hank, what is it?"  
Surprise was rarely wasted on the professor so Hank immediately got to business. "Well," he began still slightly panting, " It's concerning Young Maximoff's new powers." He paused a moment for effect. Then he held up the manila folder. "You might want to see this."  
The professor nodded as he moved over to the startled doctor. He frowned as his eyes scanned the paper. He leaned back in his chair just slightly. Worry evident on his face. Hands folded he leaned forward. "Well," he began voice barely a whisper, "this is interesting. We can't let Magneto know about this. It might just be another reason to manipulate his children."  
Hank nodded solemnly. "Yes, but how do we help him if he thinks that we're just trying to use him?" The doctor proposed. Xavier sighed.  
"Like many things...this will take time. For now however all we can do is wait." McCoy nodded as he left to tell the others the updated situation.  
  
With a saddened expression Xavier wheeled to the window he had grown accustomed to gazing from. 'I failed to help Wanda with her powers. I won't do the same with her brother or Lance. But this might be far harder than I expected.' So he turned with a heavy heart as he thought of the best way to approach the two young mutants.  
  
"Where the Hell is my brother!?" Wanda shouted at the two X-men before her. If anyone had known where Pietro had vanished to it would be them. She glared at Scott who kept steady under her intense gaze.  
"Please, Wanda," he pleaded with confidence he didn't know he had, "Until we know more about the situation it's best you don't know."  
This however didn't go over quite too well with her. Her hands sparked as her eyes stayed ablaze. "He's MY brother! I should know if he's safe!" She shouted fiercely.  
"Of course he's safe!" Rouge muttered as she rose to Scott's defense. Sick of seeing him slaughtered when all he was trying to do was help everyone. "And besides why would you care about his safety! Weren't you the one that was trying to kill him about a month ago?" she flung out desperately.  
At these words, confusion flashed through Wanda's eyes briefly and Rouge knew she had said something wrong. She looked at Scott for reassurance, yet all he could do was place a hand on her shoulder and hold a finger to his lips.  
"I think," Wanda began softly, most likely due to her surprise, "that I need to see Xavier," She looked up at them, as things seemed to fall together. "I just remembered something very important."  
Rouge and Scott shared a brief and unsure glance for a moment or two. "Okay," Scott said slowly, "come with us." Wanda nodded as she followed them cautiously towards the door. Looking over across the hall she motioned Todd over to her.  
"I might not be back to school for the rest of the day." She told him, "will you be okay?" When he nodded she answered his unspoken question. "I'm going to Xavier's to see what's going on."  
"But Wanda sweetie-" he began to protest but she cut him off with a small cringe. Yet it turned into a warm smile as she said, "Don't worry about me okay?"  
Todd nodded surprised by the sudden calm and controlled manner of Wanda as she walked out. He sighed 'What the Hell is going on anyway?'  
  
"Oh don't be such a baby!" Jean chastised Pietro as she reached once again for his arm. Yet once again he hopped up and scrambled away from her.  
"No!" he shrieked, "You don't understand! I HATE needles! And besides why does he need another blood sample anyway?" Sighing Jean put down the needle as she began to rummage through a lower cabinet.  
"I don't know. I just do what I'm asked okay!" she told him defensively. He smiled as if just having figured something out. Hopping over the bed and forgetting his previous fear he jumped to the side that she sat on and sat down next to her.  
She shot him a raised eyebrow as he continued to smile secretly. "I knew it." He told her confidently.  
"I beg your pardon?" she asked him with a confused expression. He just a shook a finger at her.  
"Oh don't even try to play dumb with me now. You're just Xavier's little puppet, aren't you. He says jump you ask him how damn high." Jean just stared at him shocked. She put a hand to her chest and let out a breath of disbelief.  
"Pietro," she started, "I don't do things because I'm forced or intimated. I do them because that's what I believe is right. And because I trust the professor and believe in his goal." Pietro once again hopped up in a blur.  
"You see I don't believe that!" he told her as he pointed at her with an accusing finger. "I don't believe that anyone in the world can be uneducated and naïve enough to think that everyone can get along! Because they can't!" He shouted getting caught up in his words. Yet Jean didn't mind. She had a feeling that this was a side of Pietro that very limited people had the chance to see.  
"Pietro..." she slowly spoke unsure of what to say, "What I believe is based upon hope, not nativity. And I hope that one day the world can accept mutants. But we will never know until we try."  
Pietro gave her a sad smirk that for some reason, despite the fact that she was two years older than him (I think that's accurate) made her feel so much younger, and him seem so much older.  
"I feel so sorry for you." He told her truthfully. She just shook her head at him with a smile on her face.  
"Don't feel sorry for me," she told him, "Because there are many more people that could use your pity." She held up the needle and gave him a questioning look.  
He sighed. "Oh to Hell with it." He stated as he allowed his blood to be drawn. "I guess that there's some things that are worse than needles." He told her.  
She nodded and smiled, "And the world is also filled with things much better too." She told him in all sincerity. He deserved to know how great the world could be. 'Maybe I can show him that.' She thought to herself, 'Not only gain his trust...but maybe his friendship too.' She smiled knowing that they had reached a somewhat mutual understanding. She looked at him for a moment. He was looking down at the sheets on the bed as he poked where she had previously stuck the needle. She gasped as blood began to pour from his arm and onto the sheets, slowly staining the pearly white with a deep red. Her voice caught in her throat as she jumped up and accidentally knocked over a vile of Pietro's blood. 'Well we'll have plenty of that if you don't do something Jean!' she mentally chastised herself.  
She looked at Pietro to see if he had noticed; yet he simply stared at the blood in fascination. Jean screamed when blood began to pour out of the corners of his eyes. "PROFESSOR!!!!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs. "SOMEBODY HELP!!" 'Oh God, what's happening?' she asked as she ran out of the room screaming for help. "Help! Professor! Logan! Someone help!" she cried desperately. She watched the world go into slow motion as Logan and Storm flew by her and into the room Pietro was in. She suddenly collided with Scott whom caught her as she began to slip to the ground. "Jean! Jean! What's wrong? Jean!" his voiced dulled into the background as she saw Dr. McCoy lean over her and whisper or what sounded like a whisper. "She's in shock..."Then the world went black. "Pietro..." she muttered pathetically.  
  
DigitalAngel4U: BUWUHAHAHAHAHAAAA!  
At this point I'm either being interpreted as incredibly evil or incredibly stupid. All of this suprisingly has a purpose. The blood and stuff I mean. It's foreshadowing something! But I can't tell you what! I would update more if I weren't so busy. I have a huge geography project to do so I don't know when I'll be able to update. Please review if you are interested in me posting the rest of it! 


	3. The Honest Truth and a few Suggestions

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of X-men: Evolution. I do however, to an extent own the plot of this story. It is here however solely for your enjoyment. So please...enjoy it!  
  
The world was a blur as Pietro's eyes opened. Once again he saw Jean Gray hovering above him. 'Grrrrrr.......,' he thought, 'This is becoming way too routine.'  
She smiled as he began to come to. She opened her mouth to tell him something but was cut off as the doctor whispered something into her ear.  
"Um, Pietro," she smiled shakily, "I have to go. But Lance is coming to check on you and Wanda is here and wants to see you too." He quirked an eyebrow at her. She was hiding something. He could tell.  
"What happened?" he asked her confused. She shook her head as she began to walk out.  
"I really have to go Pietro. The professor needs to speak with me." She told him as she reached the door.  
Suddenly the handle to the door seemed to melt. "What on..?" she looked over to see Pietro's eyes slightly different. How did he keep doing these things? Using her powers to pull open the door she rushed to the professor's office.  
  
She reached the large oak doors in a matter of minutes. She put her hand on the handle only to hesitate. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She mumbled quietly to herself.  
"Not at all Jean. Please come on in." she heard the Professor's voice from inside the closed doors. With a tug of her hands the doors gave way and opened. She walked into the room somewhat nervously.  
Xavier looked up at her from what seemed to be a very interesting manila file of some sort. He motioned to a chair in front of his desk. "Please Jean sit." He told her as he closed the file and folded his hands together.  
"There's no need to be nervous," he started, "You are in absolutely no sort of trouble." He informed. At this a slightly more comfortable silence settled over them. "I just wanted to ask you if you could relay the information of the events that occurred yesterday. That way maybe we can figure out what is going on."  
"But Professor," she spoke slowly as if confused, "I thought you knew what was going on." He shook his head at her somewhat sadly.  
"Regrettably I can't explain what I heard. However I thought it would be prominent to inform you of Pietro's new powers as you are the only one to see them at work."  
She leaned forward in her seat somewhat anxiously. "Well, um is there any particular reason you wanted to share this with me?" He nodded at her slightly.  
"Indeed there is Jean." He told her firmly, "As of right now only the staff knows what Pietro's exact powers are. We thought we should wait until further research before we informed him or the brotherhood of them. If the information were relayed back to Magneto the results would be disastrous."  
"Well," Jean paused, a thoughtful look on her face, "Magneto wouldn't manipulate Pietro...would he?" she asked somewhat shocked. "And just what are Pietro's powers that would be useful to him?"  
"Magneto once before used Wanda and I see no reason why he would hesitate to try and use Pietro." Xavier told her as she nodded, remembering the situation. "Pietro's powers, as you know, deal with natural elements. However," he paused, seemingly for effect, "This ability to control natural things goes beyond powers like Storm's or Lance's or even Magneto's, Iceman's Pyro's...I could go on."  
She looked at him at a loss for words. "Wait," she stated holding up her hands, "are you trying to tell me that he can control anything that has some form of nature in it? That could be anything!" She said flabbergasted.  
The professor nodded. "Yes." He stated, "He can control anything from the wood in tables, the water in the ocean, to the very blood that runs through our veins, and even after that he can control the iron in our blood."  
It is a very, extremely all powerful gift. Fortunately he has not learned how to control or use his powers yet. However after last night's little incident we cannot be sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. But we do know that if Pietro's new found powers wound up in the wrong hands...I don't believe I need to inform you of the consequences?"  
Jean bit her lip as her head shook involuntarily. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Utter destruction.  
  
Pietro, still slightly dizzy from his sudden awaking folded his arms behind his head as he took a look around the room he was in.  
White sheets, white walls, white light, white table.....white...white...white. 'Wow,' he thought to himself, 'If I didn't like my hair so much I'd probably die it just so I wouldn't be ....freaking....white!'  
Suddenly there was a knock on the...white door....as it slowly opened to reveal a pair of icy blue eyes identical to his own.  
He remained silent for a moment or two. "Wanda." He stated somewhat curtly. She looked at him softly for a moment. "Pietro." She sighed as she took a seat next to his bed. "Pietro," she bit her lip as if searching for a way to get out what she wanted to say.  
"I remember Pietro," she said at last, "I remember everything," there was a sullen tone in her voice that told him how betrayed she felt without really saying anything.  
He swallowed as tears began to cloud his vision. All he ever did was hurt her. He was just like his father. "No Pietro!" she exclaimed suddenly, standing up. "You aren't like him! I'm so sorry I ever thought you were!"  
He gasped in surprise as she flung her arms around him in a tight embrace. But he didn't pull away.  
The tears rolled down his porcelain like cheeks as he hugged her back. Closing his eyes he raised his face heavenward. When was the last time he had the luxury of hugging his little sister?  
"Older by two minutes." She mumbled stubbornly into his chest. He looked down at her.  
"What?" he asked. She looked up at him. "I didn't say anything." She told him. He shook his head at her. Disbelief etched on his face as he pointed his finger at her.  
"Yes you did." He argued with her, "you said, 'Older by two minutes.'" He told her.  
"No I didn't. I just thought it when you said that I was your younger sister." She informed him. He shook his head at her.  
"But I was just thinking that...wait. Do you think we might have..."  
"ESP?" Wanda finished for him. "It seems very probable doesn't it?" He nodded at her statement and it was obvious to Wanda that his mind was elsewhere. She also found it interesting how he brushed off the fact that they could read each other's mind. Yet from what she heard it was not the strangest thing to have happened to him as of late.  
They stayed in the same position for a moment or two. Drowning in the peacefully comfortable silence that had been grace upon them.  
Finally Pietro spoke...his voice whispery and clear in the cold, empty white room. "Wanda...if you know everything....why don't you still hate me?" he asked her. Yet she certainly did not need ESP to know that it had been what was plaguing his mind.  
"Well Pietro," she began slowly as if speaking to a child. She could tell he was in a somewhat fragile state, "Because I had a lot of time to think. And along with my memories of the past I had the memory of my misery. I was so lonely and bitter. And I remembered what you said to me. You wanted to make things right. I had forgiven you long ago. In truth I knew that, I just hadn't come to terms with it yet. But I knew that if I truly wanted to be happy...I had to forgive those I deemed responsible for my unhappiness. If I didn't.....well, then I may have never moved on."  
That said she looked up to him from her position at his side. He smiled at her, because at that moment there were no words. He was simply...happy. He stayed like that for nearly two more seconds until he looked at the ceiling, a smirk etched into his features.  
"So," he began with a curious tone in his voice, "Are you really two minutes older than me?" she shook her head at him  
"Do you even have to ask?" she laughed tapping the side of her head. He smiled at her, and she at him. And they both knew that things would be alright between them again.  
  
"With all due respect Professor," Jean began, "but why are you trusting me with all this information.  
"Well Jean, that's another thing I wanted to talk to you about." The professor said with a smile on his face, as if concealing an inside joke of some sort. "You are the only one to have been in contact with Pietro both times he used his powers. As I stated before, you may recall."  
Jean nodded, she had. She made a motion for the Professor to continue. He nodded slightly as he did so. "And seeing as we are still working on a way to A: keep his powers under control, B: keep him safe and sound away from his father, and C: try to get him to let us help him and Lance, we need someone to watch him. Keep an eye on him. Be his....care taker of sorts. And it seemed to me that well...you would be the most obvious choice."  
"Umm..." she started her bright emerald eyes held a look of disbelief, "what?" she asked dumbly.  
  
"I hope I'm not interrupting some sort of brother sister bonding moment or anything." Lance said as he poked his head into Pietro's little medical room, not sounding all that sorry.  
"You were but eh, what the hell right? We'll probably have sooo many more." Pietro said irritated. Lance rolled his eyes.  
"I came to see if you were alright but I am so obviously not wanted, so I'll just leave." He stated as he spun on his heel to exit. However Wanda stopped him with a smile on her face as she watched the two best friends (though Lance nor Pietro would admit it after the betrayal) quarrel.  
"I was just leaving." She told Lance as she stood and left with a short bye to Pietro, Leaving the two friends alone for one of the first times since Pietro's return.  
"So," Lance began in a bold move as he tried to break the uncomfortable silence. Pietro sighed as Lance began. He wasn't very good at this was he?  
"It seems weird," the rock tumbler began, "you and me not being friends, I mean." He trailed off slightly. The dove haired boy looked at the white sheets clutched in his equally pale hands. He leaned back.  
"No...it doesn't does it?" he asked more to himself than to Lance. "But that's what I get every time I choose him over someone important...isn't it?" He spoke in a whisper. Lance remained silent. This was personal for Pietro. Plus it was one of the few times he was allowed the privilege to hear what Pietro had to say.  
"I mean..." Pietro began inarticulately. The one time he got a chance for Lance or any of his friends to listen and he didn't know what to say? This wasn't something he could let slip by. "It's like I always ask myself why things can't be the way they use to. And the thing is that they can. I just keep messing up, you know?" he said in a desperate attempt to make Lance understand.  
He smiled when Lance nodded. He knew he would understand. "I just think," he paused to give Lance a serious look. A reserved look he only broke out when he was going to suggest something serious. "I just think it's time for a change...a really big change."  
Lance stared him down. "Just what are you implying?" he asked the young speed demon. "Are you thinking what I think your thinking?" Pietro shrugged.  
"What do you think I'm thinking?" Pietro asked him. Lance stared at him. "You want to break away from Magneto?" he asked dumbfounded. "Pietro, do you have any idea how dangerous that could be for you?" he asked the boy.  
Pietro glared at him. "No," he drawled sarcastically. "I only realized that he will kill me when he finds out of my "betrayal" and throw away countless years of my "loyalty" to see that I am severely "punished". But no I have no idea what I'm thinking of...how about you?" he shot back venomously. "And besides I was kind of hoping...I dunno...that y'all would come with me?" he confessed sheepishly.  
Lance blinked in the silence..."Wha?" he asked dumbly. Pietro shot him a look that said 'you know exactly what I said so don't make me repeat myself.' "This is...um kind of sudden Pietro. This brotherhood is well...for us...it's all we've ever really had."  
Pietro nodded, "I know." He told Lance earnestly, "But...things are getting serious Lance. And we can't hang in the balance forever. Just to let Magneto order us around...we have brains Lance." Here there was silence. "Maybe it's about time we use them."  
Lance stood there shocked, "Well...um...what options were you leaning to?" Pietro bit his lip as if about to shed his last ounce of dignity.  
"Well I thought that...um...well considering this situations of ours...that well the um...X-men would be our best choice." Wincing at that last sentence he looked up into Lance's eyes.  
Lance stared back. The silence was suffocating. "Come again?" he asked. The silence continued. As did the staring.  
  
DigitalAngel4U: Well you might think I didn't write more because I do not know where this is going but I do actually. I just wanted to see if anyone likes where this is going. Review if you do please! Next chapter you'll see both Lance's and Jean's answers will be! Please Review if you like, love, hate or just want to critique me! 


	4. Decisions and a bit of Advice

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of this cartoon I own only the plot. It is simply for your enjoyment! So please enjoy it!  
  
The only sound in the hallow hallways was the clickity-clack of Jeans high heeled sandals as she walked in a daze and made a dire dash to the garden house, with all hopes that Ororo might just be there. With a watering can in her hand and a ready mind to give Jean the advice she knew she would have.  
The young girls mind had been buzzing all afternoon. Thinking of the offer that the Professor had asked her to call up on. Not once in her life had Jean thought herself capable to care of someone. Especially not someone as mentally fragile and messed up as Pietro Maximoff.  
He was in his own right...extremely dangerous. The offer of being so close to such a...furtive person was...slightly intoxicating. And it was an offer she normally wouldn't back out of. Most certainly not when the professor was counting on her.  
Yet with the circumstances there was always room for a good reconsideration or two. So thus, with a set mind and determined look she marched off to the direction of the greenhouse.  
  
In all the time that Jean had been at the institute, she had always found that the most peaceful place to go to be by oneself in the company of only ones thoughts was Ororo's gardens.  
As a younger girl she had thought the flowers as fascinating and loved to go everyday after school to assist Ororo in watering them. Watching them grow, Ororo had once told her, could always take a person's mind off of their problems.  
"It's amazing," Ororo told her one afternoon, "How inspiring it is to watch this small, young restless plant grow so stubbornly when there are such larger and imposing plants around it, just staring it down...waiting for it to give up. But it keeps on growing."  
Jean recalled her rebuttal to the statement, "Oh Miss Munroe," she had giggled, "Only you could think of something like that."  
Ororo had simply smiled the smile that often graced the lips of certain people. People that knew more than others understood. The smile smiled as they waited for the rest of the world to catch up to them.  
These were the memories that flitted through Jeans hazy mind as she pushed gently on the foggy glass door. Sighing in awe as a lively exotic green obscured her vision and surrounded her with a sense of comfort and familiarity, she could only smile as more fond memories bubbled at the surface of her drifted mind.  
"Ororo?" she called out tenderly sounding much like a child separated from her mother, "Are you there?" I need you to be here. "Ororo?" I need to talk. "Hello?"  
There was a bustle of leaves as a head of white hair and flashes of dark skin poked out from the flaps of the larger plant leaves.  
"Hello Jean." Ororo said as her eyes shone with happiness that the girl had sought her out in the correct place. "Is there something you need to speak to me about?" she said to the younger girl.  
Jean smiled gently. "You can read me like a book Ororo." Yet the older woman simply shook her head at her.  
"Any literate person can read a book, child. Some people just have to know what they are reading." She told her as she sat the thin tin watering can down with a clank next to a large, firm looking tree and motioned for Jean to come and stand with her.  
"Do you recognize this tree?" she asked the red-headed girl after a moment or so of silence. Jean's head shook as she twitched her lips to the side as if trying to remember the name of an actor she knew she had seen before, but just couldn't place her finger on it.  
She sighed giving up. "Not that I can recall. But it seems so familiar to me." She admitted as she let her eyes wonder to Ororo's face, seeing that her eyes were still firmly glued to the tree.  
"This," Ororo began fondly "is the plant you first planted upon moving to the institute. I told you that as you grew, it would also grow. In beauty, size, and understanding to the other things and plants around it."  
Jean had grown past making comments on Ororo's constant personification of plants. But looking at the strong, firm and steady looking plant it surprised her that it was so young. Breathing out she whispered, "I remember." As if having what an alcoholic would call a moment of clarity. She had a feeling she knew what Ororo was going to tell her.  
"I know what you wish to talk to me about Jean." Ororo told her, the mildness of her mouth lifting into a stern smile. "Yet I believe that you've grown enough to the point that you understand the things, and people around you enough to do that on your own." Ororo told her somewhat firmly.  
"Not only that," the woman continued, "But you have what many people do not. And that is an accurate understanding of yourself and a content and secure place in the world."  
Jean's eyes filled with intensity as a war raged in the depths of her mind. 'What to do.' She pondered as her angels and demons weighed her pros and cons. Ororo, seeming to see her confliction said, "But if you would like my opinion-"  
The offer hung in the air just like that. It seemed almost as if Jean had not heard her. Yet then she nodded. "I do." She told Ororo without any doubt in her mind.  
Ororo sighed. Closed her eyes, and then opened them again. "Pietro is young, emotionally and mentally fragile. He is a young man with a wretched past and grim future. He lives in a world where nothing is certain and he has no room to be himself. Yet I doubt that even he knows who he is......but you do Jean." Ororo paused to give Jean a proud look then continued, "You know who you are. And I believe that if you try, that you can help him find out who he is too......but that is simply my opinion."  
Jean bowed her head and with a soft smile leaned forward and hugged the woman that had been like a second mother to her.  
She stood slowly, breathed deeply, nodded and walked towards her exit. She paused however, at the door, saying only, "Ororo sometimes I forget the I'm the mind reader,"  
Her only response was a smile.  
  
"Lance, I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't believe that it would be the best thing for both of us." Pietro stated in a monotonous tone as he let his gaze remain fixated on the white linins that wept with boredom and blandness.  
Would these sheets be his life if he stayed at the Institute? Sure the offer had always been open.....but nothing was scarier than crossing the line to accept it. Nothing except for this.  
"But," Lance began inarticulately, "That's what scares me, Pietro." He said in all honesty. "It's always been my job to do that....for you guys. But this time....this time I can't even be sure what's good for me."  
Pietro sighed and lifted his gaze to meet that of Lance. "That's why I'm telling you. Whether you listen or not is entirely up to you and the others." He told him in an airy tone.  
Lance gritted his teeth. "Could you please act a little more concerned about this!' he scolded Pietro in a harsh tone.  
Frustrated Pietro through his hands into the air. "Oh excuse me! I'm sorry if I'm a bit cranky because I woke up with Jean Grey standing over me for the third time in the past two days while having a doctor continually tell me not to panic because they're trying the best they can to extract the blood from my eyes and EXSCUSE ME FOR BEING A LITTLE UPSET BECAUSE NO ONE WILL TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME!"  
Lance stood there for a moment in the silence as Pietro's heavy and angry breaths filled the room. "Stop yelling Pietro! I'm still out here you know!" Wanda called from outside the Infirmary door where she had apparently been listening to their conversation.  
"Good," Pietro called back out to her, "Then find the doctor and ask him where my f*cking painkillers are!"  
Lance smiled. "They'll think about it." Lance told him seriously. Pietro raised a quizzical eyebrow out him.  
"They?" he questioned him with a never ending curiosity that seemed to constantly surround the human race.  
Lance nodded. "You're right. What they do is entirely up to them....but I think I'll stay here with you."  
They smiled at each other using that ever so sacred best friend smile. They wanted to hug but decided against it as to not disrupt their manly statue.  
After awhile Pietro smacked his lips in a rather annoyed fashion. "You're staying because of Kitty aren't you?" he asked.  
"Yeah pretty much." Lance told him as Pietro simply nodded. Disappointed that he had not though to use that tactical approach.  
  
Jean opened the door to the Professors office with her eyes shining in the fashion of a girl that had all of her priorities straightened out. She looked as if she had just gotten off the craziest roller coaster of her life.  
Yet she was only just about to board it. For she sealed her destiny the moment she walked up to the Professor's desk in a strident and confidant action and said, "Professor, I would love to be Pietro's caretaker."  
  
DigitalAngel4U: That's all for now! I'll update soon as I can! Review and tell me what you think! 


	5. A Pretty Nice Place

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of this cartoon and this story is purely for your enjoyment so please enjoy it!  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kitty asked him, her eyes large with amazement. She'd always wanted Lance to join the X-men, but it was always an unreachable and untouchable dream. It was enough to wander what changed his mind.  
Lance nodded, "Yeah," he told her. "But it's not gonna be like I'm joining the X-men or anything...just till we get better control and understanding of our powers. You know, me and Pietro."  
She sighed for she did know. The whole freakin' institute knew. Yet still she wished he would join the X-men. She couldn't think of what she would do if Lance were to continue down the path he was going. As futile as it seemed, she wanted to save him. But she couldn't do it alone.  
"Well," she began cautiously as if not knowing what to say to him. "Are you at least going to train...I mean those are some pretty hefty powers you're toting there." She informed like a child having done her homework.  
He nodded. "I'm going to have to." He told her. "You know, that is if I don't want things to start blowing up and getting run into by people of course."  
She bit her lip at his sarcasm. She hadn't meant to upset him, just encourage him a little. He seemed to notice because his expression softened.  
"Sorry Kitty, I'm just sorta on the edge....I'm really worried about Pietro. Plus with her memories back Wanda's talking to Xavier about joining the X-men and that would leave Todd and Fred alone and....we couldn't do that to them. We're all each other's got." He told her in a fluid and emotional tone of voice.  
He closed his heavy eye lids. His conscience weighted with stressful thoughts his young mind had no reason to suffer. There was a soft touch on his hand. As light as a feather and as tickling as dapples of rain on cement.  
He lifted his eyes open, a victorious feeling overwhelming him as he prided in the fact that though vision obscured...he could still see. And what a sight it was.  
Kitty's eyes were as soft and gentle as Ororo's when she had told him that Pietro would live. Every bit as compassionate as Xavier's when he said 'The offer is still open.' And they looked at him with nothing short of love and a caring he had never felt before himself.  
"Now you have me too." She told him. He decided he liked being looked at like this.  
  
Ouch....bright....Holy fuck what time is it? These were the thoughts that rapidly flicked Pietro's ever constant brain functions as he winced away from the shards of light that stabbed at his eyes.  
Shoving off the thin white sheets that had held him captive for the past two days he sat up and struggled as if in restraint. He had never been too fond of the light. That much could be seen by the paleness of his skin.  
  
Twisting himself over he reached his arm out as he groped the nightstand that had been dumbly put in his reach and picked up what he thought to be a hurlable object. Flipping back around he swung it in the direction of the light and settled back down into the sheets.  
"Gee Pietro," a soft voice dripped into his ear, "I pegged you for a morning person."  
He slapped his hand to his face. "Oh God." He mumbled to himself. He'd heard that voice only a few times in the past few hectic days but he could easily recall whom it belonged to.  
"What do you want now Gray?" he snapped irritably in her assumed direction. He heard her omit an aggravated sigh.  
"Oh gee I don't know," she began in a sarcastic voice that wasn't much like her. But being in Pietro's presence made her feel as if she would need every tone of voice she'd never used, "Opening your eyes would be a good start."  
'The things I do for the people with the power over my life.' Pietro thought as he slowly opened his bright blue eyes.  
Looking at them was so intense it took Jean a moment to remember what she was going to say.  
  
"Uh...um...." she stuttered for a few moments as his agitated look bore into her conscience like a knife.  
"Oh spit it out Gray." He snapped at her. "You certainly don't strike me as the stupid type so if you would..." he made a hand gesture at her to tell indicate that she should speed it up a little.  
Snapping out of her hazy state she met his look of annoyance with her own look of patience. 'For the better good' she reminded herself. 'This will help him one day.'  
"First off," Jean began much more articulate than before, "call me Jean. I mean after all we will be spending more time together."  
He looked at her blankly for a moment and Jean gave herself a small pat on the back for having caught the hostile boy off guard.  
"What the hell?" he asked rather bluntly. Sitting up so quickly that the wind knocked back his sheets he looked at her intently no longer entangled in webs of sleepiness that a long night had provided him. He waited.  
She smiled, seeing that she had his full attention. Getting up she brushed her hands down on her jean skirt as if to wipe away an invisible filth.  
As she reached the window that connected Pietro to sunlight she glanced at the curtains she had so brutally pulled back to wake the younger mutant. She smiled sheepishly as she turned to face him.  
"Well," she started off slowly, "as of today....I am your caretaker." She looked to him with a bright smile on her face as she looked to study his reaction. He raised an eyebrow as if not comprehending her words. She sighed.  
"This means that I will be watching over you, taking care of you and helping you get a grip on your new powers." She informed him in a somewhat mechanic voice.  
"Riiiight..." he drawled with a nod. "So.....do I get a say in this?" he inquired in a sincerely interested voice.  
Jean's head shook immediately as if on automatic as she recited words that seemed easy to say to her but hard to hear to him. "Nope sorry Pietro you're just going to have to get used to having someone look after you."  
His mouth closed slowly and he nodded. "Well I should be used to it by now I suppose!" he seethed in a low enough voice where Jean could not hear. He was always being forced to do things he had no wish to do.  
It was the story of his life he supposed. Shut up and do as your told, if you want to stay alive that is. There was no doubt in his mind that his 'father' was so gone that he might contemplating killing Pietro just to speed up his domination plans.  
'Then again,' his mind whispered to him, 'Maybe this is a good thing.' Jean bit her lip as she let her eyes wonder over the troubled youth in front of her. The bad news she had to tell him was in truth not all that bad, yet to someone whom spent his life running around, well she figured it would upset him.  
"Pietro," she spoke slowly as she let him get use to the sound of her voice. Or perhaps it was her that just enjoyed hearing herself, for no reason at all, say his name. "You lost a lot of blood, I'm sure you remember." She informed him with a wave of her hand.  
When he nodded she felt fit to continue. There were hardly a handful of people that would listen to what she had to say, and even fewer who cared. She began.  
"I'll come out and say it Pietro. With all of those antibiotics that the doctor had to pool into you well...your legs will be out of use for a couple of days."  
She expected a tongue lashing, a growl, a complaint, hell maybe she was expecting too much because all she received was his head, hung low and his lips parting. Just to say, "That sucks."  
She stood there and stared at him in pity. Was it all really that bad? Did a public catastrophe and a silent convulsion brought upon an unsuspected victim truly give her the right to look at him like an orphan that had no home? Because that was Pietro felt liked he was being looked at. And he really hated pity.  
  
He was warm when it was cold. It was a unique feeling. One he had always appreciated but rarely received.  
He tugged at the lapels of the black flannel overcoat that protected his stooped shoulders and lovingly bore the name 'Bobby' on the neck tag. Pietro had no idea why they, or he for that matter, were out in the rain. It was drenching. Having gone from the light drizzle they heard inside the house, to the full fledge attack that was forced upon them when they stepped out.  
Despite this he was extremely dry, being protected by an invisible shield that generated from the girl that stood behind him, fingers clutching the handles of the wheelchair that Pietro found himself in.  
He imagined that she looked out of place in his world. The one with the rain and gray buildings and slick concrete. It may have been her that lived here but at that moment it was his world.  
Risking a glance he twisted around in effort to see her face. To feel that fleeted moment of triumph when he realized he was right........but it never came.  
She was soaked. Just barely outside of the regions of her own defenses and she was soaked. Her skin was pasty and pale and her hair was redder than blood as it matted against her face which was scrunched in concentration on keeping him dry and getting him to there destination.  
This in all of Pietro's introvert life speculating thoughts had forgotten where exactly that was.  
She reminded him of a girl he knew in the neighborhood he and Wanda once lived in together with their father. He had only been seven when he saw the little girl, barely four years old, wandering around the neighborhood looking for her dog.  
She in all reality looked nothing like Jean with her curly brown hair and brown eyes. But when she had approached him in the pouring rain asking him. Of all questions, if he had seen a three legged collier running around, she had taken his answer of no as an invisible step backwards.  
He had watched as she scrunched her face up and shook her head in a way only troubled toddlers could and told her that he sincerely hoped that she found it though.  
He had later heard from his father, who sometimes proved to be a useful source to gather information that the girl's father had found the dog the next day. But the little girl had gotten hit by a car on the street just west of the community basket ball court, where Pietro had been when approached by the girl in hopes of enlisting his help.  
For many years to come Pietro would bear the misplaced feeling of guilt on his shoulders due to the young girl's death. Feeling that...if only he had helped her in her search she could have been steered from that ill fate. That if only the human race weren't so damn selfish and lazy she wouldn't have died so young.  
If only people like him were more like people like her the world would be one hell of a better place.  
"HEY!" he called to the water soaked form of Jean Gray, raising his voice to rise above the thrashing pelts of the rain. Her head snapped towards him. The chair stopped. Pietro swallowed.  
"You're going to get....um sick or whatever you know. Maybe you should shield yourself...if you want....I guess." He told her uncomfortably. She shook her head fiercely.  
"It's fine," She called to him, "Were here anyways." She informed him nodding her head into the direction of a light green building with tall glass ceilings. He scanned his surroundings and realized that they were in the large sweeping back yard of the Institute. Right on the edge of a forest he hadn't known existed. He consented that he should pay a little more attention.  
"Oh," he whispered as she laughed, thanked him for his concern and began to steer the wheelchair over the slick wet grass and out of the rains line of fire. Briefly lowering her shields, Jean kinetically opened the green house door.  
Pietro sucked in a puff of air as a cool breeze washed over him as he was seemingly breathed into the green house. He heard the dulling of the rain mute slightly as the door clanked shut.  
The interior of the green house was as, well, green, as the medical room had been white. He let his eyes wonder over the plants. He never really did appreciate nature.  
Turning around he watched as Jean slipped off her corduroy green jacket and run a slippery hand through her matted mess of hair. As he began to turn around he caught sight of Jean's eyes and noticed that there were no dark mascara streaks that often accompanied the faces of girls that had been unfortunate to get caught in the rain. Her eyes were a bright green and matched the color of all the plants in the natural dwelling they currently resided in.  
He imagined that he looked very out of place in her world.  
  
"So," Jean heard Pietro say as she picked up a watering can and began to water the plants like Ororo had asked her to do while she and the Professor went to talk to the principal about the little 'incident' that Lance had accidentally caused at school the other day. "Why exactly are we here.......and just how may days of school do you get to get to cut?" he asked her rather bluntly.  
She spared him a half interested glance. "Well I'm watering Ororo's plants like she asked me to while she's away and I don't like to think of it as cutting but more as a little break until you're ready to go back to school." She informed him.  
He leaned his head on his hand tiredly. "I'm ready to go back!" he insisted for reasons unbeknownst to even himself. Probably just to make conversation in the thick mix of green house heat and awkwardness.  
"In a wheelchair?" she inquired as she gave him what he liked to refer to as "the eyebrow" He let his hand fall as he straightened his back in the leathery handicap tool.  
"Good point," he told her evenly though his tone spoke that he wished she would say why she brought him with her. Sighing she put the watering can down.  
"Pietro do you remember when I found you in front of that oak tree by the football field a couple of days ago?" she asked him. He nodded and motioned his hand for her to proceed.  
"Well after what you did with that tree." She paused, "well I was wondering if you might want to practice that on one of these plants."  
She looked at him to study his reaction. He rotated his jaw in a curt fashion as if looking over an important business plan. He shrugged, which Jean took as a sign of 'if I have to.'  
Smiling she steered him over to a little plant that Ororo had just previously planted on the day of Lance and Pietro's arrival to the Institute.  
"You see that plant?" she asked him motioning to it. When he indicated that he most certainly did she fed him his instructions. "I want you to focus on making it do something........anything. Okay?" she asked him rhetorically,  
"Fine," he said as he put his arms into use by grasping the wheels of the chair and twisting himself to face it. He closed his eyes.  
He took deep slow breaths. Trying to ignore the stuffy heat and the fact that Jean hovered so close to him he conjured up a mental image of the plant. Concentrating her tried to think of how the plant might look when it grew.  
Suddenly Pietro felt his skin heat up and tingle as if being cut by billions of small needles being scraped over his skin. He felt an internal pull backwards. The kind of feeling you get when going 100 miles per hour on a racetrack.  
Suddenly he jolted back to reality. Blinking away falling beads of perspiration he looked at the plant in front of him. It was no longer small. But grown up to the height of Pietro's head as he sat. It was now thicker and contained blooming buds of pink that sparkled in tranquility.  
Jean stood for a moment flabbergasted. What she had just witnessed, the rapid growth of a baby plant to it's full potential was perhaps the single most amazing and beautiful thing she had ever seen. And she had seen many.  
Pietro, for his own part, didn't find it to be too big of a deal. This surprised him. He turned to look at her.  
"There," he said to her blandly, "I did something for you now I need you to do something for me. Okay?" he asked her.  
She stared at him mouth hung open and nodded. He followed her actions. "Alright," he said clapping his hands together as if a tour guide initiating the local's trip through an ancient museum, "I need you to teach me how to use ESP."  
Recovering from her initial shock she said, "Why exactly do you need to know that?"  
"Because me and Wanda have some sort of Telepathic twin thing going on and I want to know how to use it. And I'd feel more comfortable learning from you than Xavier, alright?" he told her with a sigh.  
She nodded. "Of course Pietro. This is just kind of shocking, you know?" she told him. He nodded.  
"Do I ever." He informed her as she smiled. Leaning back on the stool that Ororo used during her free time. She began to explain it to him.  
"But first....do you want to see some of the plants? To pass the time...you know until the rain stops?" she asked.  
"Um sure." Pietro agreed not used to getting such polite offers.  
So the two of them spent the rest of the day in the green house looking over different types of plants and educating Pietro on telepathy. And when Ororo got back and saw the light to the green house on. She just smiled and knew that Jean was doing exactly what she suggested her to do.  
Pietro, who had been subjected to many green sights that day, had agreed he had a favorite. Plus when he watched Jean's eyes light up as she animatedly explained the story of a certain flower he decided that green was as of that moment......his favorite color.  
Her world was a pretty nice place to be in.  
  
DigitalAngel4U: To anyone who really wants to see more Lance don't worry. The next chapter will be mostly him, the brotherhood, and some more of Scott and Rouge. Plus watch as a plot magically forms in front of your eyes! Please review whether it be good or bad! 


	6. Everything's Changing

Disclaimer: I do not own X-men: Evolution or any of the associated characters. I'd like to note that I can't really write the character's accents well so will not write them much if at all. The content of this story is not meant to offend anyone and is written purely for your enjoyment. So please.....enjoy it!  
  
This chapter is for Furrygurl who has been such an enthusiastic reviewer! Thanks so much!  
  
"So when you say you want us to stay together....do you mean, still as the brotherhood?" Todd asked a confused look on his face as if he knew what was going on but was just making sure.  
Lance shook his head from his position leaning against the counter in the kitchen of the Boarding House they had all at one time shared.  
"No Todd," he said using the backs of his hands to push himself up into a less slouching position, "I mean as friends. I don't want little living politics to separate us."  
Todd's mouth fell open just slightly so he could intake a small amount of air. He did a double take as he saw Wanda in the kitchen door, duffle bag in hand. She looked at him blankly.  
"What exactly are we discussing?" she asked though it was evident she already knew and most certainly had her own opinion. "And why are we?" she directed her words to Todd and Fred who stood behind him his own strange look in place.  
"Pietro is your friend and he needs you! There should be no discussing you should know what to do!" she barked at them yet not with her usual aggressiveness.  
Todd answered her, "This isn't a simple decision Wanda!" he informed her clenching his fist and not noticing the way that Lance had his fingers crossed and head bowed.  
"Why not!" she demanded, dropping her bag to the ground and taking a step towards him. Todd looked at her somewhat sadly as if what he was going to say wasn't what he wished to admit.  
"Because once he betrayed us...you...me...himself. And once upon a time I swore that I could never trust him again, and for once I doubted if I knew him at all. I doubted that he was my friend. How I can I throw away what I have now for something I'm not sure I'll ever have again?" Todd asked then paused and looked at her, "How can you?"  
"I just know...it's different this time Todd. Everything's changing." She scooped up her bag, "And I'm going to him. You're welcome to come. Fred's going," she gestured to the large blond who looked away from his best friends' confused glance, "I want you to come Todd."  
"Please Todd," Lance spoke breaking himself from his under the radar safety, "look how broken we are apart. We can go back....I'm pretty sure we can fix whatever the Hell went wrong."  
Todd looked down, then up to look at all of the people that wanted him. To be their friend. Just knowing that had to be enough. He sighed.  
"Why the fuck not?" he said with a laugh and stood slouching as usual. "I'll...go pack...but um Lance...are we still...you know the Brotherhood?" he asked looking at Lance.  
"Yeah," said the older youth, "if that's what you want then yeah." Todd pursed his lips and nodded.  
"It is." He said before actually sprinting up the steps. Wanda sighed and handed her bag to Fred whom held his own. "Will you take these out to Lance's jeep please?" she asked and he nodded slowly not quite used to having her utter the word please.  
He exited outside and Wanda turned to Lance and placed her hands on her hips. "Well that wasn't too difficult. I just don't know how were going to break the news to my father." she spat as Lance shrugged.  
There was a sudden crash and glass flew into their faces and fell at their feet. Lance jumped backed and looked at the broken window only to see a very familiar set of cards and pair of red eyes. Laughter broke the silence. But it was only amused.  
"Oh trust me chere....he already knows."  
  
Pietro squirmed uncomfortably in the wheelchair at the metal table in the kitchen of Xavier's mansion. It was a Saturday today which meant he would spend a great deal of time avoiding the X-men. But a few had caught him it seemed and drug him to this destination.  
And speaking of drugs he was still waiting to regain the use of his legs. The expected time had doubled since the last couple of days. But he didn't feel the need to run as much now that he was getting a better handle of his new powers. Jean had been helping him out. Also speaking of...  
"Kitty I'm pretty sure that Pietro isn't hungry! You don't need to make him anything!" Jean said to the petite brunette as Kitty tried to turn on the gas stove unsuccessfully.  
She made a face at Pietro that told him he didn't want to try her cooking anyhow. Not to mention all the warnings that the guys of the house had, reluctantly, given him involved staying the hell away from Kitty's little 'experiments'.  
Rouge gave Jean a small poke in the side and mock scowled, "Oh shut it Jean!" She then turned to look at Pietro from her sitting area on the kitchen counter.  
"Oh trust me Pietro, you'll just love Kitty's cooking!" she told him with a smirk. He raised an eyebrow and held up a hand to her.  
"I'll pass thank you very much." He told her before glancing at Kitty who was still fiddling with the stove. He rolled his eyes leaned his head on his hand and snapped his fingers.  
"AH!" Kitty shrieked as the stove suddenly sprung to life and blue flames danced under the eyes of the stove. She glared at Pietro. "Don't do that!" she chastised him knowing full well that it had been Pietro who had caused the incident.  
She, for one, still wasn't used to Pietro's newfound powers of natural element. It was quite evident that he and Jean's little sessions had evolved far beyond plants.  
Pietro ignored the laughs and antics of the girls around and tried to contact Wanda in his mind. Lance and she had called(by phone) to say that they were getting their things before coming back and staying for good, that Freddy was coming with them, and that they were working on Todd. But that had been a couple of hours ago. They would've called by now...  
'Pietro we have a problem!' Wanda's voice began to echo into Pietro's mind. It was frantic and he almost wished she'd called by phone so he could hear other noises. He was fairly sure some of them might be less than inviting. He perked up, suddenly alert.  
'Wanda what's wrong? Are you guys okay?' he thought and took no notice that the girls were staring at him wondering why he wasn't responding to them. All except Jean, of course, who had a worried expression plastered onto her face.  
"Let's just say daddy dearest found out about our new residence and sent one of his little henchmen to try and change our minds. I'm pretty sure me and Lance can take this one on our own. But if more show up we'll need your help. So standby little brother!'  
'What! Wanda! What the hell do you mean standby?' he shouted mentally yet got no response. He felt a small touch on his shoulder. He looked up at Jean. She looked worried and he noticed how two strands of her hair fell into her serious green eyes.  
"Pietro what's going on?" she asked him softly. He shook his head at her and shied away from her hand. He learned that it was hard to avoid her sometimes, when she was always with him. To quickly shut the door or hide behind the book he was reading when they were alone. He felt so comfortable with her...yet so nervous.  
"Nothing." He lied. If Wanda wanted him to wait he would have to trust her to handle the situation. And Lance not to fuck it up. He could only hope.  
  
"Ah!" Wanda shouted as she grabbed the neck of Todd's shirt to pull him out of the range of a flying and dangerous Jack of Spades. She shoved him behind the couch as an indication to stay low. "Thank me later!" she instructed before turning to Freddy.  
"Hey," she ducked as Lance caused the lamp to explode from wherever his invisible self was hiding, "you and Todd get outta here and take our shit to Xavier's place okay?" Freddy nodded and rushed to the couch, grabbing Todd who insisted he didn't want to leave Wanda and flew out the door.  
Wanda placed her hand on her knee and pushed herself up. It felt as if electricity were running through her veins and sparks danced at her palms. Gambit stopped his unsuccessful search for Lance to regard her coolly.  
He nearly lost his composure as the lights flickered but he smirked. "Temper," he reminded me, "I'm just here to do my job. You wouldn't want to shoot the messenger would ya?" he asked her calmly leaning against the doorframe and Wanda wondered what the Hell Lance was doing.  
"Who said I was going to shoot you?" she snarled as he tossed a card her way. She lifter her hand roughly and a spark sent the card flinging back at him before exploding and setting his jacket on fire.  
Wanda smirked actually believing that she might have concluded the fight. But she gasped and mentally swore as the fire went spiraling upwards into the air and into the hand of a manically grinning red-head.  
"So you like to play with fire, eh?" he asked before turning directly to the left of him and tossing the fire into air. Yet surprisingly it caught ablaze mid toss and Lance's voice could be heard swearing as the fiery outline of a person fell to the ground in flame.  
"Lance!" she shrieked which caused the red head she remembered Pietro once referring to as Pyro laugh in a crazed fashion.  
"I didn't know he was actually there! Ha, and to think I was just going to burn the house down. Per Magnetos' instructions," his expression darkened, "not to mention whoever might be in it!" He laughed more and Wanda stared at him blankly. But only because she was having her own side conversation.  
'Pietro!' she thought frantically in hopes of attracting her twins' attention. Suddenly his voice came to her loud and clear.  
'Yeah Wanda?' he asked urgently and she was relieved to know he had heard her. 'Do you remember that standing by I had you doing? Could you please forget that? Your little Pyro buddy is here and all we're doing is giving him fire to play with! Get your ass over here please!' she instructed before severing ties all together. All she could do was wait and try not to let her or Lance cause anymore fires. Lord knew that would not be good.  
  
"AW! For Gods sake!" Pietro swore loudly attracting the attention of Ororo whom had shooed away the girls so Pietro could be alone for a moment. "Is anything wrong?" she asked him concerned.  
His head snapped up to her as if just realizing her presence. He paused before straightening up in his chair and moving his feet around. His legs had begun to get better the moment Ororo walked in but he couldn't walk on them yet. Not quite.  
He cleared his throat. "Yeah...there um might be a little problem at the Boarding house." He told her careful not to slip into the routine of calling it home. He was trying to adjust you see.  
Ororo nodded, "Well in that case we'd better go." she told him seriously. The door behind Ororo swung open.  
"Go where?" asked a voice and they turned to see Scott Summers standing in the frame of the door, an eyebrow raised above his glasses. Pietro shrugged at Ororo. He would never tell Lance this but he actually kind of liked Scott.  
Not only was he the only guy in the house who had tried to make him feel welcome but he would tell Pietro what was going on and didn't spare him because he was isolated to a wheelchair. Not to mention that even though he had dated Jean, he had been extremely good to her and didn't mind that Pietro and her spent so much time together. This, Pietro had thought, might've had something to do with the way he and Rouge seemed to hang out. Just a thought on his behalf.  
"To the Brotherhood's old house, there might be a problem with..?" Ororo trailed and looked at Pietro for she didn't exactly know what the problem was. Pietro noticed this and caught them up to speed.  
"Magnetos little minions are attacking Wanda and the others." He told them and Scott groaned.  
"Don't say minions it makes me feel like we're in a cartoon!" he told them as Pietro shrugged.  
"We should be enough." Ororo told them heading over to Pietro to get his wheelchair, "There's no need to get anyone else involved in a dangerous situation."  
Pietro made a motion for her to stop. Placing his hand on the armrests the chair moved forward on it's own. She stared at him confused. He shrugged.  
"Metal." He pointed at the wheelchair's wheel covers, "Kind of natural." He mumbled before letting his head snap over to the other door in front of them.  
He smirked, "This might put a hitch in your three person cavalry." He informed jerking his hand backwards and causing the wooden door to open as he, Scott and Ororo watched in amusement as Rouge, Kitty and Jean fell through the door and into a heap on the kitchen floor.  
"Spies." He accused jokingly momentarily forgetting about his friends' peril. Kitty phased out of the pile as Scott rushed over and helped up Rouge and Jean hopped up on her own also.  
Ororo looked at them all. She sighed, "Just come along then," she said as she grabbed the keys to the van and began to walk out, "We're wasting time."  
  
It only took about three minutes to actually get there considering that Kitty phased them through anything and everything in her haste to get to Lance's rescue. Jean, it seemed, was the only one who noticed that Todd and Fred passed them in the Jeep.  
'Everything will be fine.' She told them mentally, trying her best not to scare them. They pulled into the driveway only to be greeted by the sight of Wanda desperately trying to toss back rampants of cards and keep the house intact. Lance was, obviously, no where in sight. Kitty immediately phased out of the car.  
"Lance!" she shouted looking for him. Scott and Rouge followed her. "Kitty, wait!" Scott shouted after her but she ignored his calls and went into the house alone. "Shit!" Scott swore not noticing the look Ororo gave him.  
"Don't worry I'll go after her. You just be careful." Rouge told Scott with a touch of the arm. Pietro opened the van door and slowly swayed to his feet.  
"I'll come too." He told her, "That's probably where Pyro's at." Rouge nodded. Jean tried to go after Pietro but Ororo stopped her.  
"We'll need you out here." She told Jean gesturing to the pole that Gambit had extracted from his coat. Jean nodded and touched her hands to her temples. The pole jerked violently out of the mutants' grip and into the air.  
This action startled the young man who didn't seem to have noticed them drive up. That moment of surprise gave time for Scott to gently lift his glasses and let a powerful ray of red light hurl at Gambit's chest. He was out cold within seconds and Wanda rushed into the house, the remaining three right behind her.  
  
Pietro ran at a normal pace for anyone else. Yet that was fast for his tired and somewhat wobbly legs. He entered through the open front door watching as Kitty and Rouge tried desperately to pick up a fallen Lance.  
"Oh my God!" Pietro shouted before running over to Lance. "What the Hell happened to him?" He asked Rouge since it looked like Kitty was crying.  
Rouge shook her head. "I'm not quite sure." She told him, "It looks like he's burned a little on the arms and may have a concussion. Nothing too major, Kitty's just kind of freaking out."  
"No kidding." He said looking at the poor girl. "But still...where's Pyro?" He asked looking around. There was a whistle.  
Looking over he saw Pyro standing with a match. "Say goodbye to your house Pietro, sorry, but orders are orders ya know?" He blew at the flames. They only grew.  
"The hell orders are orders!" Pietro shouted as Jean showed up at his side. He frantically pointed at the sink in the kitchen. Nodding Jean used her powers to twist the knobs as water poured from the faucet.  
By then flames were surrounding them and Pietro concentrated on the running water. Slightly comforted by Jeans presence he used his powers to make the water extend from the faucet to the flames. Pyro was so startled that he didn't see Rouge creep up behind him and place a hand to his cheek. He dropped like a fly.  
"Rouge are you okay?" Scott shouted running through the door and stopping when he saw Pyro. He looked at Kitty.  
"Will he be okay?" he asked gesturing to Lance as she nodded. Jean began to lift his body with her mind as she took him to the van with Ororo's help. Rogue walked over and helped Kitty off the ground and out of the house.  
Scott looked at Pietro, "What should we do with them?" he asked jerking one thumb at Gambit and the other at Pyro. Pietro shook his head.  
"I don't know. Leave them? I'm sure they were here to make a point and nothing else. The odds that they will do anything thing while we're gone are pretty slim." Pietro told him.  
Scott nodded as Wanda drug Pyro out and left him next to Gambit. They shut and locked the boarding house door. Possibly for good.  
After hugging Wanda and seeing that she was alright, Pietro fell shakily into step with Scott as they walked to the van. Scott looked at him with a ruby gaze.  
"Are you...going to be okay?" he asked Pietro. The dove haired youth shrugged and stopped walking, prompting Scott to stop also.  
"It's just...kind of shocking to imagine that my father...would go to such lengths as to try and kill all of us. It makes me wonder...do you have any extra room on that little mutant superhero team of yours?" he asked seriously.  
Scott smiled, "Plenty." He told him, "You're welcome to join." Pietro nodded thoughtfully.  
"I'll talk it over with Xavier." He told them as they entered the van and sped off in the distance, this time in less of a hurry.  
Pietro sighed and looked out the window, 'Things have changed father,' he thought, 'it's time you learned how to cope.'  
  
DigitalAngel4U: Sorry that chapter was kind of more abrupt and what not, I'm just trying to work Magneto into the story. Also I hope you don't mind that I like Scott because I know some people don't, but he's one of my favorite characters. I'll try to have more secondary couplings later on, not to mention Pietro and Jean. Plus I'd like to point out that I'm not trying to make the Acolytes assholes, they're just doing their jobs and in this particular scenario, are kind of the bad guys. Please review, flame, ramble, and whatever you want to because I'd love to hear what you think.  
And to ChildrenWithBlades-sorry about the albino thing with Pietro and I just can't bring myself to spell Rouge like Rogue. I don't know why. Thanks for your review! 


	7. Some Unexpected Help

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters to this cartoon, I only own the plot (if one ever emerges...kidding). The content of this story is not meant to offend anyone. It's written purely for your enjoyment so please...enjoy it!  
  
Somewhere in between the years of 1980 and 1981, the exact date long lost in the memories of those present, two men sat in silence as they waited to see an old friend in the city's confinement prison for the very last time.  
One man, 25, nearly the same age as the man, whom sat across a chess board from him, had thinning black hair that he vowed to soon give up. He had a penchant for pity where it was not needed and a soft spot for things like children and chess. Though he never really planned on having children of his own.  
The other man across from him, with thick and strange locks of white hair and sharp features was quite different than that of his friend. In the physiology class in which the two met, he confessed that he had originally been to study law.  
His life had centered on justice and what he believed to be fairness to persecuted people. He cared little for pity and little for children. But he did enjoy chess. Which was the most likely reason that the two became friends in the first place.  
"So Eric," began the man with thinning black hair calmly as he watched the other, "Professor Allen. Who would have thought?"  
The man in question raised his cold dark eyes to stare at the man as he moved his king in to win. "Checkmate Charles. And everyone for that matter. He's an insane menace whom will constantly be a threat to society as we know it. I don't find it so surprising really. His execution will hardly cause a ripple in anyone's life."  
"Except for his own of course, and I find it funny that he said the same thing about you." Charles stated with a look of distaste as he wrinkled his nose and cleared the chess board. "Maybe I'LL actually win someday, hmm Eric?"  
"Doubtful," the man replied curtly, "And as for Allen's life. Well he won't have that long enough to fret over now will he?"  
Charles's long, educated and somewhat weathered fingers played absent mindedly with the green oval buttons on his suit.  
"I suppose. Yet everybody's life has a purpose and its end, which shall always be tragic, will cause somebody grief. Even if you don't know it." He said, quoting the insane man who had taught them both the wonders of the mind once before. Though now, it seemed, he was insanely out of his own.  
"Yet there existence will cause so much more than that." Eric replied as he stood to intercept the guards that had come to lead them to the one person who knew that death at the hands of strangers was much better than that of the alternative.  
"I find it somewhat disturbing that we will be the last familiar faces he will ever see." Charles confided.  
"Who says he'll look at us," Eric said, "Were not exactly his two favorite people. And don't be disturbed." He advised. "I'm not. I'm just slightly disappointed that he's going to tell Satan all about me long before I arrive."  
Charles sucked in his cheeks as his face took on a fish like formality. "Your expectations are so high, Eric." He told him sarcastically.  
"You have absolutely no idea. But you know me Charles, and you know that everything comes with a consequence. Especially misdeeds and betrayal." He murmured his eyes twinkling as if telling an inside joke.  
"Well let us hope, you and I that we may never have to deal with that." Said the voice so full of reason, "For I certainly will."  
Eric laughed, "For that Charles if nothing more, I am sorry." And with a clap on his friends shoulder they entered to watch the tragic death of a tragic man.  
  
These thoughts of the past floated in the mind of one of the two men that day. On Eric's part, what he had told Charles had been a foreshadowing of their parting of ways so long ago. But he never dreamed that the words would apply to him I'm sure. At least not in this way.  
Pietro...as a child and as a teen now had never enjoyed being told what to do or how to feel. He tries his best to never get embarrassed or conned. And he hates more than anything, being or feeling threatened, trapped or inferior.  
It isn't a question of ego or pride...it is simply his fear. He fears the weakness of his character and despises wrong judgment. Hypocrisy is not in his vocabulary.  
But these are some of the things that people like Pietro can not escape. Before...he would defy authority and every time he did authority would beat him to an inch of his life.  
When Pietro was younger he had always been told a story to keep him in check. 'If you aren't asleep before midnight Pietro....he'll come and get you.'  
I knew who HE was. The joke was less than amusing. The cruelty of parents he didn't know was enough to force Pietro to cling to his biological father. The father who couldn't care less for him. So I stepped in.  
I intervened when Pietro broke the ultimate rule. When he defied the only person who valued loyalty to the point of insanity. When Pietro started having doubts about his father's ways I intervened.  
You know me, even if you've never met me. I know your name and age and background. How many scars you have and how you got them. I know your deepest darkest secrets and I whisper to you in your time of need. I own the ears in which prayers are spoken to in your mind. You may not believe in me, but I will always believe in you.  
I watch from afar. My children in their intelligence and sophisticated ways, however, still long for a hand when they fall. And though I don't usually offer one. This time was different.  
I stared down and saw two special yet unnoticed young men and I gave them gifts more extraordinary than those previously obtained. It was once said that when someone needs water to put out a fire...that I give them oil.  
Pietro and Lance were given their powers to put out the flames of Pietro's father, and if what I gave them was truly oil....I know them well enough to know that they could MacGyver their way out of it.  
After all. What kind of God would I be if I didn't try to stop little fires from spreading?  
Lance has a set and determined will which is ever so hard to deter. He has a significant other who loves him...even if he hasn't realized it yet and he has the courage to hold things together when they are just dying to fall apart. He's not the one that I am worried about.  
Pietro, in all his life, has been intelligent and cautious. People that know him might not say that but it's the truth. He sticks to those who readily accept him instead of chancing rejection. But he can also miss the big picture because he's so focused on the minor details...like one Eric Lensherr.  
It's said that the road less traveled is often best discovered with a friend. Well, Pietro is about to travel a very unfamiliar road...and I know just the person to accompany him.....all he has to do is chance her possible rejection.  
  
Pietro woke that morning from a sleep void of dreams or nightmares and it seemed to him that his subconscious was taking a break from the hectic. And giving him hell. Apparently since he couldn't have dreams in his sleep he was being allowed to live both them and his nightmares in his waking hours.  
He was up and dressed in the blink of an eye and was feeling extremely grateful to have his speed back. He didn't feel inferior to the other students anymore and he was pleased to no longer have to endure the look that the Professor sent his way that simply screamed, 'It's not so easy is it?' every time that he had difficulty with that damn wheelchair.  
Pietro didn't bother to fix his hair that was sticking at strange angles on his head. The task seemed so menial now, and he didn't want to distract himself from whatever he felt was so important.  
He tugged at the half-sleeves of the snug black shirt as he scanned his half of the room that he shared with Lance.  
"Where's my shit?" he wondered out loud only to receive a growl from the doorway. He looked over and saw Logan. "What?" he asked the older man nonchalantly his lips pursed and twisted downward. His expression somewhat confused.  
"Watch your language." He threatened, still glaring viciously at the boy whom it didn't seem he liked at the moment. Pietro nodded.  
"Well now that that's stored away can I help you because your kinda creeping me out and your really not helping me find my stuff?" he told the man who growled once more before leaving and Pietro sighed, not honestly worried about Logan.  
From the moment that Pietro had decided to join the X-men, Logan had been suspicious. He seemed afraid that Pietro might try to pull something and Pietro, for his part, was starting to think that the fact that Magneto had practically declared war with the brotherhood for joining the X-men after the school incident...well wasn't enough to convince Logan that he was out of his father's league.  
Kicking away a clumped pile of Lance's dirty shirts he saw his bag that he used to cart his school work to and from school. It was a simple black leather bag that only had one strap to sling over his shoulder. But he also used it to hit Daniels and Lance in the head every time they called it a man purse.  
He slung it over his right shoulder and zipped out of his room and down the stairs, the wind from the action causing Amara, was it?...Pietro wasn't sure, to shriek as her skirt flew up.  
"Pietro!" She hollered after the blur only to receive a half assed apology. Finally Pietro stopped at the door and waited until he saw Scott, accompanied by Rouge. He crept up behind the couple who were discussing Rouge's surprising fear of the book 'Salem's Lot," which Pietro had asked her to read and then made the whole household watch the movie.  
'BOO!" Pietro shouted in her ear, causing her to jump into the air. She was, it turned out, an extremely fidgeting person. She turned and glared at Pietro as he and Scott laughed at her expense.  
"You're dead!" she joked making a slitting motion across her own neck. Scott shook his head and put his arm around her waist.  
Laughing he said, "Save your plans of vengeance for later okay we're going to be late!" He then lifted her kicking and screaming over his shoulder before waving to Pietro and taking her outside before setting her down. Pietro watched in amusement as she chased him to the car.  
They made and interesting couple. They were a lot less uptight sense they got together. Which was always nice as far as Pietro was concerned.  
"Hey Pietro!" the boy heard his name being called. Looking over he saw Lance dangling the keys to his jeep. "You want ride or run?" he asked just like he did every morning that he and the speed demon had lived under the same roof. Pietro shook his head.  
"I'm gonna stick around a little while before I go to school. So I'll be running! See ya later though." He told his best friend as he watched him, Kitty and Fred go to the Jeep and wait for Wanda and Todd.  
Pietro smiled. He guessed he was fairly happy. It was amazing that over the past few weeks their entire lifestyle had changed yet Lance could still act they were living by themselves. It was an amazing feeling to know that they could still be who they are even though they no longer had to be what they were.  
"Todd, don't be ridiculous you know that I'm busy this weekend with-" Wanda began to the green tinted teen whom it seemed he was trying to get her to go on a date with him. But Pietro had cut her off in her mind, causing her to zone out in the real world.  
'Just go out with him already Wanda. I know that you like him and everybody knows he likes you...so please spare everyone the agony would ya?' he instructed and she sent him a mental agreement with an attached sigh.  
"Fine," She told Todd and Pietro smiled at her. He never could understand how someone could scowl at another person's feelings and he was glad that Wanda wasn't doing that any longer.  
Pietro turned on his heel, ready to walk to the Professor's office when he ran into Jean Gray. He looked at her while taking a step back.  
"Hey Blue Eyes," she jokingly greeted him with the strangest nickname he'd had. Mainly because it had nothing to do with his speed. But he liked Jean because she was creative, and the nickname was once that of Frank Sinatra, possibly her favorite singer in the world next to Tony Bennett.  
He smirked an nodded, "Looking like a gem as always." He joked back to her as she smiled. She handed a small paperback book to him.  
"It's 'Salem's Lot'. After you gave it to Rouge she got it circulating again." She told him with what Pietro considered a bell chiming, chorus singing, smile that launched a thousand or more ships.  
"Hope you liked it." He told her knowing she was just as jumpy as Rouge. Surprisingly Kitty loved the book more than any of the other girls and had the strongest stomach for horror novels and movies. Pietro suspected it was due to her violent cooking tendencies but didn't dwell on the thought.  
"Hey Bobby!" he shouted at the younger X-men whom had proven to be one of Pietro's better friends in the new house, not to mention he had a fetish for vampire shit. So Pietro tossed him the book and watched as his eyes lit up at the summary.  
"Keep it!" he called to him as Bobby thanked him, "Tell your friends!" With a smirk he turned back to Jean who bore the same smile as earlier. Little did he know it was reserved for him.  
"Logan wanted to speak privately with you and he asked me to come and get you. He's in the weight room." (Okay this is what I call the room where Scott and Rouge had that cute little talk while playing....tennis was it? That one episode.)  
Pietro nodded slightly miffed. The same Logan that had just been threatening him? Now that he thought about it, Logan may not have liked him from the start but he seemed to loathe him more than usual the last week or so.  
Pietro thanked her and began to walk away. Only to stop and lean against the wall to watch her walk away.  
He would just have to be on his toes, he decided as walked down the hallway. He stopped in front of a wooden looking door and put his hand in the middle. The door split strait down the center opening to reveal a cozy elevator of sorts.  
It was helpful with the professor's 'disability' and also helped to conceal all of the X-men's training equipment etc. that was kept below the mansion.  
Pietro waited until it hit the bottom suddenly grateful for the lack of elevator music. He bounced on his toes as the floating feeling in the pit of his stomach ceased as the small room's speed eased and coasted to a thudding stop.  
Pietro impatiently zipped out of the now open doors and past the silver walls and metal interior which Pietro found far too impersonal. He stopped suddenly, leaving a rush of air to blow past him and ruffle his shirt.  
He looked at the handle to the weight room door. He dared not to touch it as the door opened itself simply because Pietro deemed it to do so.  
Pietro scanned the room and saw no one present. He quickly turned around and instinctively zipped backwards.  
His suspicions had been accurate because directly behind him Logan had been leering like a dark cloud on a bright day. Stepping forward without a greeting he slammed the door shut.  
"Logan?" Pietro muttered dangerously, as he evaluated the man and tried to educate himself on his behavior.  
"You wish." Spoke a more alto, and much more feminine voice. Pietro's eyes widened as Logan's form changed to that of someone he hadn't seen in a long time.  
"Holy Shit." He stated.  
  
Jean parked her newly owned SUV in the school parking lot with a sigh. Overhead a flock of black crows flew rapidly off of a strangely leafless tree.  
The omen did not go unnoticed by the edgy redhead. She was slightly suspicious of Logan lately and it dawned on her that she might actually trust Pietro, whom she didn't know as well as she would've liked, than her own instructor of sorts.  
Her hands were wringed in her lap and the bell had just wrung also. Though shrilly into her ear. She couldn't understand Logan lately.....he had never cared to talk privately with the X-men. Why now? And why Pietro, someone he hardly cared for?  
She gasped. Why hadn't she been suspicious earlier? A voice broke her frantic thoughts.  
"Are you coming or not?" asked Kurt's voice from outside where she had dropped him off. She shook her head slowly mouth open.  
"What the Hell am I still doing here?" she wondered out loud as she turned the car on and pulled frantically out of the parking lot and doing a U-turn before speeding towards home and leaving behind a very confused Kurt and Evan.  
"Going to school?" Kurt answered meekly to the long gone Jean's question before shaking his head of blue hair and dragging Evan to first period.  
  
Mystique cursed inwardly as she dodged a series of heavy weights that had some how been melted down by Pietro and were shooting like little bullets at her. This in itself was a difficult task because the boy had also caused the carpeting of the floor to rip up and wrap around her legs.  
"Did Magneto send you here?" he demanded surprisingly calm, though Mystique assumed that this was because he had the upper hand at the moment. She used all of her strength to rip her feet viciously from the carpeting.  
She immediately morphed into a giant spider and jumped to the ceiling. This made Pietro cease his 'fire' and take a different stance, pressed up against the wall diagonal of her spider like form.  
"The Hell I would take orders from that monster!" she hissed at him and he seemed startled that she could talk. She fell to that floor setting Pietro on his guard. Mid fall she changed back to her true form and pulled a gun to Pietro's fore head.  
"Don't be ordering me around boy," she growled at him and though the cold of the metal barrel slightly bothered him he didn't blink. Besides...that was a problem that could be fixed.  
He felt the warmth of the room fade away as he let it shift over to the gun instead. In a matter of seconds Mystique cursed and let the scorching gun drop from her hands. She glared at him.  
He zipped to the other side of the room not allowing the gun to cool down in fear she would pick it up again, instead he settled for letting himself shiver and allowing his teeth to chatter violently.  
"Let me guess, performed another act of missing teacher?" he asked her angrily as he referred to the time she took the place of Xavier. She laughed silently.  
"Shut up!" he snapped at her and she did so, though shocked. "Tell me what the fuck you want." He demanded of his ex-leader.  
She let her shoulders stoop admitting defeat, this caused Pietro some victory however because Mystique was one tough chick and he knew it.  
"I didn't do anything to him...it was Magneto," she told Pietro dejectedly not liking having to reveal the information. He glared.  
"So why didn't you stop it? You obviously hate Magneto." He told her and she shrugged.  
"True," she admitted, "But I also despise Wolverine." She pointed out to him. "Truthfully," she continued, "I'm here to warn you."  
"How sweet." Pietro stated sarcastically the bitterness he felt towards Mystique evident in his voice.  
"Shut up and take the help you get," she snapped at him as he glared at her. "Don't tell me to shut up!" he yelled maturely at her. She rolled her eyes at his statement.  
"Listen," she began cutting to the chase. "Magneto is definitely going to do something to Wolverine-"  
"No shit." Pietro concluded cutting her off, only to have her growl at him.  
"Anyway, I don't know what he may try but I do know where he is." She told him. With that statement she tossed a small address book to him.  
"Those," she explained, "are all of his little hideouts. But I circled the one that he's at now." She watched as he studied the book.  
"Pietro he's got at least twenty more mutants then before. I've seen them. And he's recruiting like crazy. He's going to make his move soon. If I were you I'd wake up and try to do something." She spit out to him in a deadly serious manner.  
Pietro lifted his eyes to look at her, all contempt and hatred gone. He then asked the age old question. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked then held up the book, "Giving me this?"  
Mystique shrugged, "I....just want to see that bastard get what he deserves. And I know you can give it to him."  
"But...." Pietro began inarticulately before changing the course from a question to a statement. "Stay." He told her but she only shook her head.  
"I can't. But I'll be back. Tell whoever you want that you've got your own personal spy." She joked solemnly before the door of the room bust open and Jean flew in.  
"Pietro!" she called and stopped suddenly upon seeing the shape shifter. Mystique actually looked nervous as Jean opened her mouth to scream. Pietro zipped over to her and placed a hand over her parted lips.  
He glanced at the frantic Mystique before nodding to the door. "Go," he told her, "And thank you." She nodded.  
"Good luck." She told him before running to the open door and flying down the hallway.  
"Pietro what on Earth!" were the first words Jean spoke to him after he removed his hand from her mouth. He shook his head at her.  
"No time now." He told her waving the address book in front of her confused face, "We have to talk to the Professor. Immediately." And with that he picked her up and zipped off in the direction of the elevator.  
  
This should be very interesting.................................................  
  
DigitalAngel4U: This is kind of turning into more of an action fic then I had originally intended. Sorry there wasn't much romance in this one, I'll try to get around to it. My fingers are just letting the story run all over the place so we'll see when I get to that. Also if I'm losing sight of something you find important please let me know so I can try to work it into the plot line that I created only a day before I wrote this chapter (sort of)  
I think you all know why Mystique hates Magneto and that that was supposed to be God speaking after the opening, explaining how Pietro and Lance got their powers.  
And don't worry too much about the beginning because I'll probably bring it up later when the Professor has more of the spotlight. It's just helping to set up the story.  
  
MAJOR THINGY! I'm in need of some ideas of powers and characters for Magneto's new recruits! I could make them up myself but that would be no fun! So if you have some ideas please let me know!  
  
And please review. I'd love to hear your opinions whether they're good or bad or somewhere in between! Thanks to those who reviewed! And to those who didn't and read this junk anyway! Kidding...but not about the thank you thing! ( 


	8. Fatal Landing

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of this cartoon. The content of this story is not meant to offend anyone and is written purely for your enjoyment! So please enjoy it!  
  
In the dimly lit room of his office the aging and tired form of Charles Xavier sighed and put his fingertips to his temples as he tried to sort out the newly digested information he had received from one of his newer additions to the Institute for Gifted Youngsters.  
At his side, leaning gently back against the slick oak desk, Ororo Munroe made her first comment on the matter.  
"The question is," she began softly "Can we trust her?" As she said this she looked pointedly at the white haired youth that had brought the break in to their attention. And also the relatively casual update that they were missing an instructor.  
Pietro, who was lazily draped over the chair directly affront of Xavier, crossed his arms. With a somewhat amused snort he responded.  
"Hell no!" he told them honestly, "Well...I mean we could, but we might have it bite us in the ass later."  
"Language Pietro, please." Ororo told him with a sigh, obviously worried about their missing party. And sparing a glance at the silent presence of Jean Grey, she figured she wasn't the only one.  
"Then why did you let her go...exactly?" asked Ororo straightening up with a small wave of her hand. Pietro stood up as if rising to a challenge. Which, in his eyes, he may have been.  
Reaching into his bag he pulled out a small black address book. He waved it in the air so that they could see it clearly.  
"This," he indicated to the book, "is what Mystique gave me to find Magneto. And though we may not be able to rely on her as an ally, I bet that her hatred for Magneto for whatever reason," here he waved his arm back, "For whatever cruel act he performed on Blue Boy,"  
"Kurt." Jean and Ororo monotonously broke in at the same time before sharing a small smile at Pietro's hand waving their comment away.  
"Whatever." He stated distractedly before continuing to the Professor, "I bet that whatever it was made her hate him enough to where she'd like to see him get his ass kicked....to see him get foiled. Just for once." He leaned on the Professor's desk and held up one finger and Ororo thought that he might consider taking up law.  
"So I know that, in the time that she worked for him, she would've taken the opportunity to keep track of information that she could very well use against him. And who better to give that information to than you...his little arch nemesis or whatever it is you are." He told him finishing with a smirk. Obviously feeling that he had proved that Mystique didn't waste her time with the book.  
"You didn't exactly answer my question Pietro." Ororo stated tiredly once again having never been to found of Mystique and wanted to know why Pietro, who she knew to have been treated less than civilly by the person in question, would let her walk away.  
He shrugged his shoulders at her before saying, "She did me an obvious favor. And it was dangerous, but she did it. Plus, with me having had the upper hand it would've been easy to force her to stay but," here he paused and looked at Ororo instead of the ground, "There's a saying that says, 'If you truly love someone let them go...and if they come back the you know there yours forever."  
He ignored the look he got from Jean that plainly said, 'What the hell does that have to do with anything?' and moved to explain.  
"What I'm saying," he started now fully facing Ororo and no longer the Professor, "is that we can let her go and if she comes back with information again, we'll know she's got to be for real. Mystique strikes me as a 'to the point' person and fucking with people probably isn't that much fun for her."  
Ororo nodded having approved of his analogy and didn't feel like commenting on his 'vulgar' language. "So what should we do with this information?" she wondered out loud, leaving the floor open to ideas. Once again, it was Pietro who spoke.  
"Well this circle," he jabbed his index finger at a circled address in the book that lay flat and opened on Xavier's desk, "is where Magneto is supposed to be. And you said that you checked some of the other places before once and found them emptied or trashed, right?" he asked the Professor who nodded, actually looking intrigued with Pietro's rant thus far.  
"This means that Magneto probably used them before. I think we should check every where but the circled area." He told them sounding quite confident. Yet at this point the remaining three looked at him as if he were incompetent. He had a feeling another explanation was in order.  
"Well Mystique said that Magneto had more recruits and let me tell you his little 'hide out and plot my evil domination of the human race' spots are no fucking mansions. He couldn't possibly hold them all there." He explained, "Which leaves me to believe that some of the others would have to go to one of his former places."  
Xavier nodded, "Yes that may be true but our stalling could give Magneto time to find a new place to flee to wouldn't you think?" he asked the young mutant.  
Pietro shook his head quickly causing his already mussed hair to look more wind lashed, "I don't think fleeing is on his to do list any more. Besides you could break us up if you wanted. And who knows, with the low term shit that Magneto's holding these guys with maybe we could do a little recruiting of our own?" he suggested.  
Jean spoke for the second time since they had started the discussion. "You seem pretty confident in your little game plans, Pietro." And she couldn't help notice that her tone sounded somewhat bitter.  
She didn't know why she felt so irritated with Pietro at the moment. Maybe it was because he had let Mystique go? Or because he had so much confidence in her?  
But when she looked at his somewhat startled expression, though he quickly hid it, she knew what it was. Could she be upset because Pietro was maturing as an individual? Was she really selfish enough to wish he still needed her help? Selfish enough to wish he were still in a wheel chair just so she could spend more time with him?  
"Well, as you can plainly see Jean this isn't a fucking game anymore." He snapped at her. Though he wished he hadn't the moment he did. Jean looked as if she were really upset about something. And he really didn't want to add to her stress.  
Xavier cleared his throat quickly, sensing the tension. "Pietro," he broke into the boy's train of thought, "Could I speak with you privately?" he asked only to get a nod from Pietro, who was still looking at Jean.  
"Ladies? If you wouldn't mind," he suggested, nodding to the door. Jean promptly stood and rushed out, Pietro's eyes on her back. Ororo nodded to the Professor and put a gentle hand on Pietro's shoulder before following suit.  
When the door clicked shut, Pietro turned to Xavier. The man motioned for him to sit once more before placing his hands on the desk and looking at him seriously.  
"You made many good points in your previous argument. But one thing did strike me as odd." He pointed out to the young man.  
Pietro shot him a quizzical look from his seat. "What's that?" he asked though when he was pinned by Xavier's stare he knew where he had slipped up. His eyes widened slightly.  
"Ohhhhh...." He trailed off feeling incredibly stupid. The Professor pursed his lips in a tight smile and nodded his head.  
"Yes..." he began wheeling out from his chair, "I was fairly sure that you, of all, people didn't know what had happened to Kurt as an infant. Rouge only found out because of the memories she absorbed from Kurt." Here he paused to see if Pietro would speak. When he did not, Xavier continued.  
"Pietro, did you know that telepaths would be able to pick up each other's thoughts easily if we didn't guard them so well?" he asked. Pietro said nothing,  
Xavier sighed. "Pietro, I as well as you know that you and Wanda have telepathic abilities. But lately have you found it easier to talk to maybe....Jean in her mind?" he asked the boy who looked like someone had just knocked down his newly built city. Perpetrated and looking at Xavier in disbelief as if to ask, "What else did I do?"  
That look in itself was enough to answer Xavier's question. "What I'm trying to say Pietro," he paused to make sure the easily distracted boy was listening to him, "I believe yours, as well as Wanda's telepathy might be developing into powers more like mine, to the point where you receive....oh let's say flashes of memories? When they are not guarded well enough."  
Xavier looked at the silent boy once again and decided to let Pietro tell him on his own...how he found out about Kurt. It was a somewhat personal issue to the boy, as could be expected, and though Xavier trusted Pietro, he wasn't quite sure how deep the trust of Kurt's was to not worry about Pietro telling another person.  
Xavier wheeled over to the door and opened the tall oak slowly. He was just about to tell Pietro that he could leave when a voice spoke and tempted him to wait.  
"It was Mystique," he said swallowing what could very well have been tears, though to this date Xavier had never seen the boy cry, "Mystique, when she was helping me.....I couldn't help but wander why. But I didn't have to. When I asked her why she gave me the book... I didn't really need to."  
Xavier had a feeling he knew what was coming. Once upon a time the knowledge of another's memories had caused him much grief. Jean had never experienced that. And he was fairly sure Wanda hadn't either.  
"It was like I was watching a freaking movie or something and all I could hear was Mystique calling my father a monster and a baby crying and she was running from someone. And the look on her face....it broke my fucking heart. And it made me realize that I wasn't the only one he'd betrayed. And that's how....I know we can trust her."  
Pietro lifted his dark blue eyes and Xavier found it strange that he felt a feeling of understanding pass between the two of them. Pietro knew what he was doing. And at least now knew why he had seen what he saw.  
Pietro stood up. He paused at the door, his hand resting slightly on the wood before turning to look at Xavier again. "And don't worry. I won't tell anyone."  
And with that he zipped down the hall, leaving a confused look on Xavier's face. Because the Professor knew that he had not expressed those wishes out loud.

Pietro smiled as he caught sight of Jean in the place he knew she would be. Ororo's greenhouse. He didn't know why they hadn't gone back to school; although they both had a little on their mind.  
Before having gone on his little hunt for Jean and her whereabouts he had stopped by a small convenient store. His first destination after he had left Xavier's office. The images of Mystique's were still fresh on his mind.  
In his hand he clutched a small balloon with the scribbled words, 'I'm sorry.' on it. Courtesy of the Diamond Shamrock (A gas station if you don't have one where you live.)  
And he was sorry. He was sorry that he had snapped at her and sorry that he had been avoiding her when all she had ever done was try to help him.  
So sneaking quietly, which was quite the task, into the foggy greenhouse; he kneeled down and avoided being seen by Jean. He found himself tip-toeing right up to the same plant that had once before aided in the bonding of the two teens and the emergence and future control of his then newfound powers.  
Smiling he knelt down so that he was covered by the thick leaves of the surrounding plants. Tilting forward somewhat he took the bottom of the balloon and set it into the plant, fixing the card with the note so that she could see it. It was her favorite plant and she would pass by it sooner or later. (I got this idea from Wonder Boys! Which is my favorite book! EVER!)  
"Feeling guilty?" asked a familiar, smooth voice from behind him. Jumping slightly he turned to face the girl in question. She glided past him and set the watering can down. "You shouldn't."  
She was decked out in a large brown poncho that was splattered with dirt from the plants and she had on a pair of mismatching gardening gloves. Her hair was tossed up in a sloppy bun to keep the hair out of her face.  
He couldn't help but speak the truth, "You look so cute!" he gushed causing her cheeks to tinge pink as she reached past him and got the card.  
He watched her emerald eyes scan the paper and a smile break out onto her face. She raised her eyes to meet his. "Pietro," she began with a snicker, "That's so sweet."  
Pietro smiled at her and was about to initiate a conversation about how he had been missing her making his life miserable, though only to break the tension, when the door to the green house swung open and Cyclops bust in. Not Scott but, decked out and ready to kick some ass Cyclops.  
"Sorry," he said breathlessly though looking anything but sorry, and was more than likely happy he interrupted Pietro just talking to Jean when the speedster in question had ran in on one of Rouge and Scott's dates, just so he could jump out the window to get away from Lance who was chasing him, and being chased. This of course had lead to disaster. So Cyclops didn't look too sorry.  
"What's going on?" Jean asked taking off her gloves and poncho. There was agitation in her voice and Pietro wondered if she had contemplated what he had.  
"Yeah," he said, "And why the Hell aren't you in school?" he asked the suited up mutant. By this point they were already locking up the greenhouse and Pietro and Jean still didn't know what was going on.  
"The Professor pulled us all out. Brotherhood too." Scott answered handing Pietro the key to the plant sanctuary which he promptly gave to Jean. "It's seems about 20 minutes ago someone left a tip about where Logan is."  
"Well yeah-" Pietro stated figuring that Xavier had already told them about his and Mystiques' encounter. Scott shook his head.  
"Not your tip Pietro." He told them. By now they were inside the mansion and headed towards the 'basement.'  
"You guys need to get suited up and get to the hangar." He told them referring to the X-jet. Pietro zipped in front of him causing both him and Jean to halt.  
Holding up a hand he asked, "Just where in God's name are we going anyways?" Scot smiled and shrugged, "Ever been to Alaska?"  
"You've got to be shitting me."  
  
Wanda jumped when she saw Pietro in his regular battle uniform, save the silver X he had sewn on the front. It seemed he was proud to be on the team even though he and the Brotherhood were still close.  
"Pietro you're actually going to go with them?" she asked in disbelief as he walked into the hangar, where she, the suited up X-men and the Brotherhood were.  
"Yeah," he told her bluntly, "You're not?" he countered raising and eyebrow when she shook her head.  
"I'm just not ready yet Pietro. To face him if he might be there. To fight some little meaningless fight with him-" but Pietro cut her off.  
"It's different this time Wanda and you know it is!" he snapped at her obviously bringing his personal thoughts into the argument, "All these years he's bullshitted about doing one thing or another and I know that he'll do something this time and this might help stop him! Isn't this like your dream? To get an opportunity to fight him?"  
Pietro sighed when she said nothing. But the fire in her eyes was still ablaze and he was probably lucky to be back on good terms with her. Had he been anyone else she would have ripped him a new one.  
"If she doesn't wanna go you can't make her man. Just back off!" Todd snapped at him and Pietro said nothing. Wanda walked past Pietro.  
"Shut the Hell up Todd." She hissed heading for the door. She stopped and hugged Pietro. "Be careful okay." And he nodded.  
When Wanda left Pietro turned to Fred and Todd. "I guess you guys aren't coming either?" when they both shook their heads he glared. 'Probably for the best.' He thought bitterly, 'They'd get their asses kicked.'  
He smiled, however, when he saw Lance decked out in his fighting gear. "Kitty?" Pietro asked smirking when Lance shrugged.  
"One of the few reasons," Lance laughed as they began to board the plane with the older of the X-team, Dr. McCoy and Ororo (or Beast and Storm) included.  
Pietro laughed, "Maybe I can convince you to join the other side." He joked to Lance, who snickered and held up his hand.  
"Sorry Pietro, don't swing that way." He told him earning a playful punch in the stomach from Pietro.  
"You know what I mean!" he laughed at him. (Note: I don't have anything against slash. I mean I even write it and read it. So I'm just joking around!)  
Pietro saw Storm and Beast and paused. "Is Xavier not coming?" he asked, still not calling him the Professor like the other's had adapted to doing. Pietro had responded, "Professor of what? Where's his degree?"  
Storm shook her head, "We don't want to risk something happening to him. Not after one of our last missions." She told him.  
Pietro rolled his eyes. "Riight." He drawled, "Put the children in danger instead." Sitting down next to Jean he looked out her window.  
"Speaking of which." He said pointing to the figure running towards them, arms flying and screaming, "Wait! Wait!" Looking closer Pietro saw the face. It was Bobby.  
"Hey guys hold up!" Pietro shouted up to Cyclops and Storm whom had taken the controls. "What for him!" he shouted in defense of his friend.  
"Why...exactly?" asked Nightcrawler slightly confused. Pietro rolled his eyes as everyone looked at him and Bobby boarded.  
He grinned at Pietro and sat behind him, Pietro patting him on the back.  
Pietro looked at them, "We're going to Alaska and you aren't taking the kid that controls ice?" he asked as if it were obvious.  
Everyone nodded as they took off quickly. "Oh God..." Lance muttered putting a hand to his mouth, "I think I'm going to be sick"  
There was a chorus of "Ewwwwww." As Kitty patted his arm in a comforting matter and they set their minds on what to do when they reached their destination.  
  
The ride was smooth for the majority if the trip and Scott had announced that they were indeed above Alaska, but not quite at their destination. That was they started to receive a little bit of turbulence.  
Pietro had immediately been glared at when the jet started to shake, though he wasn't quite sure why. And he had stated it wasn't him. And flicked off Spike who was muttering under his breath.  
Jean stood and began to make her way to the front. "Jean don't it might like throw you across the room or something." Pietro said tugging at her arm to make her stay. She smiled and kept on going however. And it occurred to Pietro that she might be able to clearly receive his thoughts, like Xavier had once said he had.  
Gliding up to the front Jean placed a hand on Storms shoulder. "I thought you could handle the weather if it was a problem." She whispered to her.  
The African beauty frowned and gripped the controls. "That's just it." She said, "Whatever this is it isn't weather related." She informed the red headed girl.  
"Then who or what's doing it!" Cyclops demanded as there was another huge knock to the side of the jet. And, just as Pietro predicted, Jean went flying towards the back.  
In less than zero (a sad movie) seconds Pietro jumped out of his seat and snatched her into his arms. "Told ya." He said to her smiling. She smirked and thanked him.  
"Who's doing this?" Kurt yelled up to the front. Pietro glared at him. "Who do you think you idiot!" He demanded, angry that no one had thought that they might get attacked by Magneto, or someone working for him.  
Evan glared at Pietro. "Shut up man, I mean all I can think is that some one might be giving information to his daddy."  
Pietro looked at him with an icy glare. "Shut the hell up if you know what's good for you." He began to say, which more than likely would have shut everyone up as a lot were slightly fearful of Pietro, especially those that had seen him action. But there was no need for a retort because as soon as the words left Spike's mouth he was ripped out of his seat and pinned against the wall by an invisible force.  
Though many looked at Pietro they soon looked at Jean who was glaring at the boy. "Don't ever say that again. Pietro is here to help and don't you forget it!" And with that she let him slump back into his chair.  
Pietro shook his head trying not to worry about it, because only a moment later Storm's voice echoed throughout the jet and to its passengers.  
"We took a hit to the engine, were losing power!" She shouted her voice steady. Pietro stumbled to the front of the shaking aircraft and held onto Cyclops's seat.  
"YOU MEAN WE'RE GOING TO CRASH?" he asked screaming over the scraping of the outside metal. Storm swallowed and nodded.  
Pietro looked at her in disbelief before shouting. "SHIT!" he announced before looking back at the passengers, an idea in his head. But who to help him with it?  
He had it! "Kitty," He called at Shadowcat who looked up and saw him motioning for her to join him up front.  
"WHAT!" she yelled as she got the front.  
"I need you to prepare to phase us through anything Kitty." He told her, "I have a feeling I might be able to use the metal to lift the jet up and hopefully land it somewhere safely. But if we get to the ground first I'm going to need you to phase us into the ground, jet and all, so that I can get it back up okay?" he asked and she nodded.  
She knelt down grabbing onto his leg for balance and put her hand to the floor, ready for action at his word.  
Pietro took a deep and looked out the front window where wind blew at them quietly, not knowing that it could kill them. He forced the jet to move and winced inwardly. It wasn't going to be easy. But it was this or they could crash.  
So there he and the others were preparing themselves for what may or may not be, a very fatal landing. Stretching his arms out he breathed again.  
"Here it goes."  
  
DigitalAngel4U: I made them go to Alaska! Yay! But only because that's where some 'mystery' person said Wolverine was. Tell me who I should make the secret helper. And I think I'm going to use Omega Red, Emma Frost and a reviewer's OC. Because two people suggested the first two and the third one was really nifty! So if you know where I can get some info on them please tell me! And please review! Thanks to those whose reviewed last time! Let me know what you think!


	9. Over the Hills and Through the Woods

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of X-men: Evolution or any  
of the characters that I may or may not bring into this chapter. The  
contents of this story are not meant to offend anyone and it is written  
solely for your enjoyment so please.......enjoy it!  
  
Thanks to all those who reviewed!  
  
Spiraling down towards snowy mountain tops with close to no chance of  
survival no matter how many mutants were on board....put things into perspective for Kitty. It made her wish she were sitting peacefully next to Lance simply assuring him that he wasn't going to lose his lunch. Or, maybe not that, but at least with Lance, rather than sitting tensely holding onto Pietro Maximoff's leg, waiting on his word to ensure their small sliver of  
safety. She was very optimistic you see. Truth be told she wasn't sure when she had began to trust Pietro. Although  
it wasn't just her. It was evident in the eyes of Rouge, Scott, Ororo,  
Bobby, the Professor and most importantly Jean. Kitty still wasn't sure what was going on there. But she was sure that Pietro, more than likely,  
didn't want to die anymore than the others. And if Lance and the others  
could trust him....she knew she could too. "Kitty!" he shouted down to her and her brain snapped back into reality,  
the harsh rattling of metal pounding into her head was enough to get  
anyone's attention.  
She didn't bother to enquire what it was he needed of her. Just simply  
looked up at him as he spoke. "I need you to phase us through this mountain up ahead. Can you do it?" he  
asked her instead of his more popular form of demanding. He knew she probably wasn't use to the pressure and freaking her out wasn't going to help keep them alive. It wasn't going to keep some of the people he cared  
about safe. When she nodded he gave her a thumbs up. Only moments before they had been high enough above some of Alaska's little 'hills' for him to see that there was a mountain with a flatter surface on the other side of this one. And it  
wasn't too far away from where they were headed. Or...so he thought. One  
could never be too sure. Merely seconds after his memo to Kitty they were soaring straight towards  
the middle of the giant rock and Pietro called to her.  
"Now Kitty! Phase now!" he hollered at her.  
Just as they were to impact into the snowy stone surface they glided gracefully through as if it were never even there. Kitty had done her part.  
And now Pietro had to do his. Easier said than done.  
  
All Jean knew was that they had A) landed; B) landed hard and C) were still alive. And all were thanks to Pietro and Kitty. The moment Pietro had stretched his hands out and bit his lip they had felt the plane go up, over  
to the side and then plop down roughly. "Is everybody okay?" Scott asked after the jet had stopped shaking. There were only mutters of yes and nods because no one had the heart to complain.  
They were lucky to be alive for God's sake. Jean quickly fumbled with her straps and hopped out of her seat. Racing to  
the front she slid down next to Pietro, who lie crumpled on the floor. "Pietro," she whispered shaking him. She decided not to, however, seeing as he could have a concussion. There was blood dwindling down his chin, more than likely due to the pressure he had applied to his lip whilst biting it. She had a feeling he wasn't unconscious though, just a little shook up. So she initiated her course of action, to get him up, by placing her fingers  
on each of his easily located top ribs. Where she had heard, from a  
reliable source AKA Wanda, that he was ticklish. Wiggling her fingers she was relieved when he giggled slightly and let his  
eyes open slowly, a smile on his face. "You are so strange sometimes." Kitty said to him as she accepted Lance's  
hand up and hugged him as if he may disappear (no pun intended). He  
whispered to her to see if she were okay. Jean leaned over Pietro slightly and he once again could have sworn he was  
in Heaven, but said nothing.  
"How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked him softly holding up her  
index finger. Lance rolled his eyes. "He wouldn't know that anyway." He scoffed. (I took that from The Mighty  
Ducks lol.) Pietro glared. "This many." He spat and held his middle finger up to Lance causing both  
the girls to laugh. "He's fine." Jean diagnosed to the couple as she helped the younger mutant up. He stood wobbly on his feet and would've fallen down had Jean not been there. He looked around and saw that Scott was rushing to see if everyone was okay. Pietro groaned a little and pushed past Jean to see something he thought was a little bit more important. ...His landing job. He didn't want  
them hanging off of a cliff.  
He smirked when he noticed that they were safely tilted against the  
mountains side and fairly far away from the actual cliff. He zipped back to his and Jean's seat and leant underneath to retrieve a pair of packs that had been packed prior, way prior, in case of the severe  
cold. He pulled out both his and Jean's.  
Inside both of them were first aid kits, matches, walkie-talkies and identical black skiing goats, gloves and goggles. He put the clothing on and slipped the bag onto his back. They were, after all, going to have to  
leave sooner or later.  
He watched as the others followed in suit. "You guys sure come prepared." Lance observed as he helped Kitty put the goggles on top of her head. Pietro had a feeling he looked like a mad man seeing as his hair was still in an array of messy spikes with goggles to  
boot.  
He clapped his hands together. "So?" he asked, "Anyone have any bright  
ideas?" he questioned on what they should do next. "I thought you were the idea man today Maximoff." Spike told him snidely. Pietro was prepared to tell him that he could have just let them crash when  
Storm spoke up.  
"Me and Hank will stay here and check the damage. I know it seems  
pointless for all of you to wait here so if you want to you can start heading to the area on these maps." She stated holding up two folded maps. She handed one to Cyclops, as expected seeing as he was the team leader. While she did that she explained that two people, the map holders, would lead two groups to the destination, because there were two possible ways to get there. And seeing as there was no way to tell which was shorter they  
didn't want to waste time in their search for Logan. However Pietro's jaw dropped when she smacked the second map into his hand.  
"You earned it." She told him and he smiled at her faith in him.  
"Okay I claim Jean and the Iceman!" he declared promptly grabbing Jean  
around the waist and Bobby around the shoulders.  
"I'm with them." Lance announced showing his allegiance to his friend. Kitty nodded before saying, "And I'm with stupid- I mean Lance." She joked. Scott mocked a sigh. "I guess I'm stuck with you unwanted people." He joked  
getting a punch in the gut from Rouge and a relieved sigh from Kurt and  
Evan, who obviously did not want to follow Pietro's command. After that was decided the whole group made to go outside. Pietro was the  
first, obviously, to the door and just allowed his arms to open it regularly before hopping out. Immediately he adjusted to the air. It was a  
little hard to breathe at the altitude they were at but he reasoned, looking at the map, that as they went downwards more the air would even out  
some. Turning to the door in the slushy snow, thank God they were wearing boots; he saw that it was tilted slightly up from the ground and that some of the others may need help getting out. He first extended his hand to Ororo, who delicately took it and hopped out, only to slip on the ice and have Pietro  
catch her. She smiled and thanked him before turning to help Bobby, who  
just made a little slide from the ice and slid out. Huh, why hadn't Pietro thought of that? The other's followed in suit. Evan  
glaring at him the whole time. Did he think Pietro was hitting on his Aunt or something? She was gorgeous and all....but uhh no. He silently hoped that Jean might not use her powers  
and slide down. You know just in case she might need a hand.......he was  
pathetic.  
She just floated over next to him and Iceman, Kitty and Lance soon came  
over too after having their little coupling giggles. Who knows? "Before we even think about going," Jean began getting their attention, "I  
thought I might just suggest that Lance, you might not want to use your  
avalanching powers unless you absolutely have to okay?" Lance nodded. "Yeah," Pietro added, "We don't want any....well....avalanches." He said to the others as Lance rolled his eyes and assured them he wouldn't  
use them if there was no reason to. So, after speaking briefly with the rest of the group and being told how to  
communicate with the walkie-talkies, they were advised to come directly back to that particular area if anything was to go wrong or if the lead was false. After discussing that they knew what to do they headed into separate  
directions. Cyclops and his team went in one direction, over an old tourist trail above the smaller mountain over to the other side, their destination. This meant  
they might have to do some climbing.  
Pietro and his group had to go downwards, through the woods and circle  
around to the other side. Luckily they would not have to climb although  
there were some cliffs and falls all around. So prepared, alert and duked out for whatever was tossed to them by Mother  
Nature or anything else, the two groups set off.  
  
Pietro had never considered himself a leader. He had never been very responsible, like Scott, and he wasn't born into the position, like Lance.  
But he was beginning to realize that when it came to dealing with his  
father there was no body as passionate as him to do the job. "So....where are we exactly?" Kitty asked from her spot next to Lance as they  
helped each other over a fallen tree. Their vision was obscured by the  
brightness of the white snow that fell all around.  
"We are, apparently," Pietro began, pausing ahead of them to look at the map, "Five miles away from the area where this place should be located and only two miles southwest of the X-jet." He told her feeling fairly happy  
that the map was so easy to read.  
"So we don't exactly know where this place is, do we?" Jean asked as if she were trying to piece together some sort of mystery. Pietro shook his  
head. "Nope, so we're just going to have to look for whatever may or may not be  
suspicious." Pietro told them as they continued on in silence. Lance, however, seemed to dislike the silence. This is why four miles later Kitty gasped as Lance disappeared from her side. But she knew, from seeing her arm around thin air that he was still there. "Lance don't do that!" she  
chastised him as he broke away from her. "I just think it's interesting how the snow looks when I'm stepping on it."  
He told them, trying to give reason for his sudden invisibility. Pietro rolled his eyes. "Yeah Lance real interesting," He remarked to the footprints making their way away from the group. "And could you please stay  
with us? God." He told the older boy exasperatingly. "Geez Pietro," Lance's voice came to them getting further away, "Lighten up  
would ya-oh shit!"  
There was a crack of ice and a gurgled yell from Lance before silence.  
Kitty rushed forward, phasing through anyone in front of her. "Oh my God! Pietro I don't know where he was at!" She yelled to him as he  
zipped over to her sloppily due to the snow. He quickly let his eyes search. God where was Lance. The ice cracked.....he was under water! He could  
be dying as he contemplated this.  
Pietro didn't have time to order anyone around. Sliding when he hit the ice Lance must have been on he kicked at it with  
the bottom of his foot repeatedly until it broke. Jumping into the cold  
water he let his hands feel around for Lance. Kitty too, rushed to where Pietro was and phased her arms through the ice  
to find Lance. Suddenly, Pietro's hand hit a limp form.  
"I got him!" Pietro shrieked as he struggled under Lance's weight. Jean used her powers to quickly but carefully pull him out of the water. And the  
moment he hit the ground he became visible.  
Bobby, the closet at the time, immediately checked to see if he was  
breathing. His head shot up to look at Pietro who was allowing Jean to  
assist him out of the water, and was soaked from the waist down and  
slightly on his arms. "He's breathing," the boy informed him, "but just barely." Kitty ran over  
to where her boyfriend lay and put her mouth to his in a frantic  
performance of CPR in order to help him breathe better.  
It wasn't too long before, like in every beach movie, Lance spit and coughed up water while gasping for air. He slumped slightly to the ground  
and coughed a couple more times before muttering something. "Thank God Lance!" Kitty squealed hugging Lance's head to her stomach and  
lacing their fingers together. Pietro knelt down next to the overjoyed  
girl.  
"What did you say?" Pietro asked softly as he undid the buttons of his jacket and pulled it off of his shoulders. Lance didn't hear him and Pietro didn't want to push it. He was too worried about his friend's health, no  
matter how annoyed he was that he hadn't listened to him. "We should get him out of that jacket." Jean told Kitty as she indicated to the drenched black skiwear. Kitty nodded and began to pull off the article  
of clothing. Pietro tossed her his own and she caught it, surprised.  
"He shouldn't be too wet under that jacket so put mine on him, so he doesn't freeze to death." He told her. Lance coughed and shook his head. "No fucking way Pietro," he said stubbornly, "You're too damn skinny to be  
out here without a jacket." He told his friend. Pietro smirked, "Make it up to me by telling me what you were trying to say instead of using your energy trying to bullshit you way out of wearing my coat." He ordered and Lance wasn't in the mood to argue much after that. He  
coughed once more before managing to point at the water. "There's a body in there." He croaked and Pietro became alerted. He didn't ask if Lance had gotten a good look because he was shivering so badly that  
Pietro wanted him to focus solely on staying warm. Flicking his hand he motioned for Bobby and Jean to come with him. As they  
reached the broken and chunky ice filled water he turned to Bobby. He  
jerked his thumb towards the site. "Can you...like....pull a Moses and part the ice so we," he pointed between him  
and Jean, "can see if there is a body in there?" he asked the boy who nodded and didn't seem to notice Pietro's reluctance to give out orders. The remaining two watched as the ice caved into the already broken area and the deep blue of the waters cleared up. Pietro squinted and saw the dark  
figure in the waters. He moved to speak but Jean beat him to it.  
"I see it." She confirmed before swinging in front of him to telekinetically pull the body up and out of the water. With the body out  
the ice fell inward and Bobby sighed.  
Jean laid the body down and Pietro went over to check it out.  
Upon seeing it you could tell that it wasn't too old, because it wasn't completely frozen or rotted. Kitty shrieked and looked away as the other's  
leaned forward slightly. The person was and elder man in a tweed brown suit and he looked to have  
been dead before being thrown, Pietro assumed, into the water. This  
conclusion was drawn simply because his eyes were already closed. Pietro investigated the man's appearance further; wandering what the hell he was doing this far out here. As far as he knew only one person lived out  
here. And that was Magneto....unless. "Lance," Pietro spoke to the now standing, yet still shaking teen, "Did you ever wander how Magneto got all of these places to recoup at after he was wounded and such?" When the older mutant shook his head Pietro explained. "Let's just say I don't think he's been taking them fairly." Pietro said as he kneeled down next to the body once more. "According to what Storm told us there is only one residence out here. This leads you to wonder why this  
man might be out here." Leaning over he grabbed the mans left hand and pointed at the ring finger, "It doesn't look like he has a wedding band." Pietro hinted and Jean caught  
on.  
"This means he could very well be living all alone, old and never have gotten married. So there may not be any family to be suspicious if he went  
missing...or was killed." She said drawing up their conclusions. "Yeah," Bobby said determined to add his two cents, "And look at his face. There are burn marks and half peeled flesh, plus it looks like his leg is  
broken." They all looked at each other. "The Acolytes." They stated simultaneously.  
  
Scott looked up at the towering snow covered rock before them wondering how on Earth they were to go about getting over it. He turned to  
look at his group, who had just caught up with their leader and were  
breathing heavily due to their hillier route. "You guys okay?" he asked first and foremost knowing that they more than  
likely wouldn't tell him later if he didn't ask now. They all nodded and he turned to Kurt. "Can you teleport us up there?" he  
asked looking determined to make it over the very rocky, slick and  
dangerous 25 ft. hill that stood between them and their final mile of  
walking to their destination. Kurt shook his head slowly dashing away Scott's hope of a quicker and safer method. "I have no idea how secure the footing is up there." He told them, "If I were to take someone up there, and it wasn't very stable, we could  
fall and I might not be able to catch both of us." Scott nodded seeing his younger friend's point. "I guess we'll have to do  
this the old fashioned way." He told them and Rouge shot him a grin.  
"I always wanted to roughhouse rock climbing. Safety harnesses are for wusses!" she joked at her boyfriend as he looked uneasily at the height. "Well what does that say about me?" he groaned as she laughed and hit him  
in the shoulder. She joined him directly at his side and looked up with him. Slipping her arm through his she let her head fall onto his shoulder.  
"You and me." She told him, "We'll be okay. Those two," she motioned at Evan and Kurt who had already fallen backwards on previous trips, "I worry  
about." Scott laughed and grinned at Rouge. She was one of the few girls that could  
ever make him do that...and she could read him like a book.  
"That makes two of us." He told her, "And I don't care how much rock climbing Evan's done before, the snow is just not working for him. So how do you suggest we do it?" he asked her, always open to her ideas. But he  
was deflated, however, when she shrugged. "Like you said, the old fashioned way." She told him taking a secure stone  
and climbing carefully up. Scott sighed and followed after her. "Dear Sweet God please let this work out." He prayed silently as he went after his newfound girlfriend, hoping that the others were fairing slightly  
better.  
  
"So you think they killed this guy just so they could use his home or something?" Kitty asked the other's who were now searching the man to see  
if he had anything useful with him. "Pretty much." Pietro consented, "I mean after all it does make sense, who else could dish out burns like these but Pyro?" he asked and she nodded.  
"Here's something." Jean stated from next to Pietro as she triumphantly  
held up a large, frosty golden key. "Well that could be useful." Lance told them, still blue at the lips but other worth fine. "It puts a dent in busting the door down but who cares?"  
he joked and Bobby nodded. "Besides," the younger boy said, "If their holding Logan hostage than we  
shouldn't make too much of a fuss, to ensure his safety I guess." They all nodded and Jean stood. They all felt bad about leaving the body, but it would be best if they got moving. Pietro, however, hadn't moved from  
his spot next to the body and looked deep in thought. "Pietro?" Jean asked laying a hand on his shoulder, "Is everything okay?"  
she persisted. Pietro stood, but shook his head and turned to them. "If the house is a mile away from here....than what the hell is he doing so  
far out in the woods?" Pietro asked them pointing at the body. "Do you think the place is less than four miles?" Lance asked his friend.  
Pietro opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a –shing- of metal. "It's a lot closer than you think." Said a gruffy voice from behind them.  
Kitty was the first to turn. "Mr. Logan!" she shouted and began to run to him. But Jean's arm shooting  
out stopped her from going. Kitty looked shocked at Jean. "Jean! What are you doing!" she demanded. Jean leveled her gaze on the man  
now before them. "Take a close look Kitty." She warned, "Does he look very happy to see us?"  
she asked.  
And that was when Logan lunged.  
  
Sometime in the course of their scaling up the mountain, Scott had  
surpassed Rouge and finally reached the top. He used his upper body strength to pull himself to the top and prepared to go back down the other way; however he stopped, knowing he should wait on the others. So he stood on the narrow top of the hill and watched as Kurt  
and Evan climbed up. Only moments later did Rouge join them at the top, not seeming too pleased  
that she was the last one. She jumped up and dusted her hands off, flatly refusing Scott's steadying  
hand. She smiled at him, her hair wind lashed and in front of her face. "Piece of cake!" She told them casually clapping her hands together. "Let's  
go back down now shall we?" she asked them with a laugh. Scott nodded and Evan held his hand out in front of him, "Ladies first." He  
told her and she rolled her eyes. Turning around she looked down before placing her foot in an open foothold.  
Moving to go down she spoke. "I don't know what you guys are so worried about, this will be easy." She  
assured them as they followed her lead. She moved again to what she thought to be another foothold. She placed her  
hands onto two snowy wet rocks and leaned down, prepared to step on the  
next rock with her left foot. However the moment she did, her hands slipped and with a small scream she slipped. "Scott!" She shouted to her boyfriend who was the furthest away from her. He made a dive to her but she was gone before he could reach her. "ROUGE!" He screamed down to her. Looking over he saw that Kurt had already  
bamfed after her, not willing to let his alleged sister fall. A shouted, "I got her!" was heard from down below both Scott and Evan, yet  
only moments after a large thud was heard. Followed by an ear piercing  
scream.  
A female scream.  
"Shit we gotta get down there!" Scott shouted as the two began to work their way quickly to the bottom. Praying that their teammates were safe.  
  
DigitalAngel4U: Okay, it is moving quickly and you may be confused, but I had to end it somewhere and hopefully the next chapter will clear up the little cliffhangers of sorts. I didn't have too much romance in this one  
but I plan to have plenty in the next one. Also I notice on my thing that I've been blocking anonymous reviewers and I apologize. I never meant to do that and I hate it when it is done to me. If  
you've tried to review and it wouldn't let you, than feel free to try  
again. Please let me know what you think and I'll update as soon as possible. And  
to Pam Horner was it? Can you e-mail me back about your OC? Thanks! 


	10. How's That for Shock Factor?

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters of X-men: Evolution. I merely own the plot. Also, the content of this story is not meant to offend anyone as it is written purely for your enjoyment....so please enjoy it! Also please pardon the handwriting and if different scenes are really close to eachother because I'm having a lot of trouble with the format! Thanks!

The five, shocked teens screamed before jumping away from the attempt that Logan had made on their lives. Being very much confused Jean slowed down for a moment to place her hands to her temples as to aid her in taking a look into her instructor's mind. Looking for answers....why would he attack them? She intended to find out.  
  
After a moment or two she gasped fearfully and only Pietro took notice of her fear, yet misunderstood it for her being in danger, so in a swift movement he rushed forward and pulled her away from the suddenly violent man, and she gave no protest.  
  
"Guys," Pietro yelled frantically to his friends, "I know he's your bud and all....but he is trying to fucking kill us so I think a little retaliation would be in order!"  
  
Nodding Lance stood next to Pietro, "I agree." He told the others and in no more than a second he was gone from sight. The only thing to see him by was the light footprints etched into the snow.  
  
"Ohhhhh," Kitty squealed worriedly, "I don't know!" She told them unsure. She looked at Jean, who had fallen onto the ground in shock and couldn't seem to understand what was going on around her.  
  
"Well you better know soon!" Pietro snapped as he helped Jean stand and checked her condition. "Jean! Are you okay?" he whispered urgently to her not used to seeing her lose her cool. Whatever it was it must not have been good.  
  
"Jean what is it? What's wrong?" he asked her as he watched Logan fight an invisible force from the corner of his eye. She shook her head as if to clear out any nonsense before turning back to him.  
  
"I read his mind, Pietro." She told him as he looked to tell her to move on, "And his thoughts....he really wants to see us all dead. Especially you. But the thoughts seemed too forced, like they weren't his own, but at the same time..." she sighed. "Oh God Pietro, I don't know what to think." She informed the younger mutant as he nodded his head.  
  
"You thought he was under some type of control at first but after reading his thoughts you're not so sure?" He asked her and she nodded, having would been surprised at how accurate he was if she had any shock left in her.  
  
"Can you do this?" he asked her and much to his surprised she nodded, proving to him that she was not down for the count. He smiled at her and simply said, "Okay then." As he watched Lance mess with Logan's head as he practically lead him around in circles.  
  
That didn't last too long, however, because soon Logan caught Lance's arm and blood began to seep into the air. "Ow!" Lance said, "It's just a little cut but still...ow." Kitty however wasn't to pleased and shoved into Logan, sending them both flying headfirst into a tree. However upon contact Kitty phased through leaving Logan groaning in pain.  
  
As he jumped up again however, a small bump on the head hardly doing much damage, he flipped forward kicking Lance in the shin and then swiping at him only to miss.  
  
"Someone has to do something about those claws!" Avalanche informed them as he backed away, not being able to do much other than play the offensive as there was nothing to blow up and he had sworn not to cause an earthquake.  
  
At this statement Bobby nodded and tried to freeze his hands together. And it worked surprisingly as Logan tried desperately to move out of the way of a tree branch being hurled his way. They almost thought they had him beat, that is until a stream of fire came out of nowhere and melted the ice around his hands and he cut through the branch Jean had telekinetically hurled at him easily.  
  
"Nice try." Came the somewhat irritating voice that they had heard once before in a battle that had left Kitty boiling in anger. Turning only momentarily they looked up to see Sabertooth, Pyro, Gambit and Colossus. "Ugh, it's you." Kitty spat distastefully at Pyro, whom she had not particularly liked since he had tried to kill Lance. He cocked his head to the side with and obviously fake smile on.  
  
"'Fraid so, Darling-" he began but was cut off as Pietro tried something new and threw his hand out, sending Pyro flying into a tree roughly. He stared at his hand. "Whoa." He stated, obviously not knowing he could somehow control a human's body too. And Jean watched on, knowing all the while just what Pietro was capable of, though the others stared in awe.  
  
"The Hell!" Pyro demanded as he sat up groggily and Jean used her powers to take a blow at Logan's mind and knock him out in his weakened state. "That was a cheap shot!" he accused pointing at Pietro who raised his eyebrow.  
  
"There are rules now?" Pietro asked disbelievingly. Gambit smirked and pulled out a hand of kinetically charged cards.  
  
"Guess not." He said with a smile before he let the cards fly at his opponents from his hand.

Rouge groaned slightly as she came to from her position on the ground. She could faintly remember being too quick to move while climbing down the rocks and falling, before Scott or the others had a chance to catch her.  
  
Standing up she found herself a little sore but otherwise in good condition. Looking around she found herself in a cave of some sort and came to the startling conclusion that it was indeed, not where she had landed. But who knew?  
  
As she walked slowly around, hands on the wall like surface surrounding her, something else gave her that idea. She walked slowly before tripping over another body in the ground. Putting her hands on it she felt the warm and fuzzy texture.  
  
"Kurt?" she asked cautiously not quite knowing what exactly was going and deciding to be a bit careful. The body moved and Rouge's legs slid off of it slowly.  
  
"Yah. Rouge? Is that you?" Kurt's easily identifiable voice asked in the darkness. Rouge sighed, pleased that her suspicions were accurate.  
  
"Yeah Kurt it's me. How did we get here?" she asked him confused. A 'Hold on.' Was sent her way before at scratching sound was heard and a light burst into the darkness revealing Kurt's face.  
  
Smiling at her he held up a box. "Matches." He stated simply of the tools in their packs. Rouge nodded and followed his example grabbing her own matches and lighting one, adding to the brightness.  
  
"Well," Kurt told her standing up and offering her a hand, "From what I can see, and remember, I bamfed to catch you before you hit the ground and succeeded, that is until I needed to take us to safety and I saw a patch of grass that was a little above the ground and figured it was secure." He paused and pointed upward, when Rogue looked she was partially amused to se a large hole in some grass that they must have fallen through and that landed them in here.  
  
"So we should go back at that way I suppose." Kurt told her before shoving up his pack and teleporting to the top of the broken grass, having found a steady footing. He reached his hand down to her but realized she was slow in taking it.  
  
"Rouge? What is wrong?" he asked her as he watched use her hand to cup her right ear. "Do you here something?" he teleported back to her as she kept listening.  
  
"You could say that." She told him wondering why she hadn't heard it before. "Someone's screaming." She told him and realized they could have been screaming for quite sometime, which is why it had died down so much. "It sounds like a woman."  
  
"Well what are we waiting for?" Kurt demanded as he began to rush to the sound. However Rouge grabbed his elbow in an effort to stop him. "Only fools rush in Kurt." She told him straight faced as she recited the Elvis Presley lyrics.  
  
"Haven't you noticed how suspicious this all seems?" she asked him in a whisper. When she received a blank stare she continued. "You know, the way that the grass was so perfectly placed above the break on the cave when in reality it probably would have already broken through due to the snow right now." She told him.  
  
"What are you saying Rouge?" he asked her worriedly. She looked around at her surroundings, looking as if something might jump out and grab her.  
  
"I'm saying, Kurt....that this looks a hell of a lot like some sort of trap." She consented to the curious mutant.  
  
Suddenly a feminine voice ruined their suspicious thoughts, "And you'd be right." It said in an amused tone. Rouge, not even knowing who it was shoved Kurt flying straight into a jagged edge wall screaming "Kurt go now!"  
  
And while Kurt didn't exactly want to abandon his 'sister' he also didn't want to be slammed into this wall and quickly teleported away as he realized Rouge's plan to get him out of harms way.  
  
Suddenly Kurt found himself on cold snow, surrounded by trees, and right in the middle of an extremely hectic battle zone. He screamed as a ball of fire flew directly past him only to be frozen by...... "Bobby, thank God!" he yelled teleporting over to the younger boy, who was busy battling the infamous Pyro.  
  
Looking around he saw the other's of Pietro's team battling the Acolytes or....at least the original Acolytes. He gasped when he saw Logan unconscious on the ground and began to rush over to help him.  
  
Halfway there, however, a swoosh was heard and he was back where he had been. Kurt looked at Pietro angrily, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, he attacked us." Pietro said bringing Nightcrawler up to speed.  
  
Kurt looked at how emotionless Pietro had said that and instead of being upset he reasoned that Pietro didn't know Logan as well as they all did. But....why would Logan attack them.... 'I don't have time for this!' he thought impatiently.  
  
"Look," he said to the boy who seemed to simply be playing with Gambit by making his cards explode before they left his hands. "Can you spare anyone?" he asked Quicksilver who stopped messing with Gambit to look at him.  
  
"It's about Rogue...." He began. Then it seemed that something dawned on Pietro because he pointed and let his mouth drop a little, "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked as Kurt rolled his eyes.  
  
"It's complicated." He said but explained the best he could, "To make a long story short, Scott and Evan are still on the mountain and Rouge is in trouble. She's in some cave where a woman is screaming...or something and I think that Magneto might be there." Pietro nodded.  
  
"Which way is it?" he asked as Kitty phased through Remy's jacket and took his pole, then proceeded to knock him out with it, "Because I am as of now officially off duty." He said as he saw the unconscious Gambit.  
  
The moment that Kurt was out of danger Rouge through a wild kick at the intruder only to have an arm grab her lag and twist her around, where she landed painfully on her now hurt right leg. She winced as she tried to slip her hands into her bag. "Um...I don't think so." Said a female voice and before Rouge new it she was screaming in pain.  
  
Trying to fight the pain that was soaring through her head she kicked the persons feet out from under them and threw her match in their face. "Damnit!" the voice cursed as Rouge made a break for it down the cave knowing that without Kurt she wouldn't be able to get through the opening up top.  
  
Pulling out another match Rouge lit only to find a dead end in front if her. Growling she kicked the wall fiercely with uninjured leg and was shocked to see it crumble in front of her eyes. There....was something on the other side.  
  
When she leaned through the opening the first thing she noticed was the giant house she had unmeaningly stumbled into. She knew it was Magneto's little 'hide out'. She smiled softly, "Woo Hoo Scott, we won!" she muttered softly thinking about how Scott wanted to see the look on Magneto's face when they found the place. But Scott wasn't here and neither it seemed was Magneto.  
  
After landing gracefully on the ground, with a slight wince due to her injured leg, she realized that the stone had been real...and she had somehow caused it to crumble easily. But as much as she wanted to investigate the strange matter she thought that this would be the perfect time to look around.  
  
Not bothering to stand up just yet she crawled over to a metal table that had been set up in the room and crouched down behind it. Straightening up onto her feet she peered over the edge to make sure that neither Magneto nor his goons were anywhere in sight.  
  
When she found that they were not she allowed herself to stand. She let her eyes take in the vast amounts of chemicals that were lined up on various tables in a number of different beakers. There were tools surrounding a stack of strange, thick metal circles and there was a table turned upright with the back to her. But when she noticed the wires attached to it, she realized that it was certainly no table. This was confirmed by a muffled scream, the same one she had heard with Kurt earlier.  
  
She began to rush over to the table but than remembered her words to Kurt and looked over her shoulder to make sure the woman that had been attacking her was not sneaking up on her. When she was done she reached over to the table and picked up a stray hammer and lifted it to her chest, not quite sure who, or what she would see. After taking a deep breath she crept to face the front of the table. What she saw was enough to make the hammer fall in a clatter to the ground. "Mystique?"  
  
By this time Pietro and Kurt had found themselves on the top of the area that Kurt had claimed he and Rouge fell through. They were just about to teleport in when someone called out to them.  
  
"Pietro! Kurt!" yelled a voice they knew. With a worried look they turned to see an equally worried looking Scott and Evan sliding down a small hill to rush over to them. 'Their climb must've lead them here.' Kurt thought wondering what to tell Scott about Rogue.  
  
"Kurt are you alright?" their frantic leader asked him as he came over to the two of them, "Where is Rouge? Is she okay?" he continued and looked to Nightcrawler for his answers. However any hopes of getting answers were put on hold when the crunching of the snow was heard behind them. Pietro was the first to whip around.  
  
Now in front of them stood a young woman with shoulder length blond hair and a silver bathing suit looking outfit and a cape to boot. Kurt smirked as he noticed that her hair was slightly singed and her blue eyes held a look of annoyance.  
  
"Who are you?" Scott asked on his guard. Kurt added his questions, "And where is Rouge? It's obvious that she did some damage, I did, after all, leave her with a match."  
  
At this accusation the girl growled, "If I have anything to do with it you won't be getting your little friend back anytime soon. And as for my name...you can all me the White Queen." And they were all shocked when Evan fell to the ground unconscious. Looking up they saw the smile on the woman's face. "Who's next?" she asked.  
  
She seemed surprised when Pietro vanished from her sight, taking Evan with him, and Kurt took the opportunity to teleport Scott and himself into the cave. "Where did the brat's go?" she wondered out loud.  
  
"Boo." Said a voice from behind her and she turned only to be greeted by a tree branch being slammed into the side of her head. She dropped to the ground, unconscious. Jean looked over to Pietro with a smile.  
  
"How smart of you to come and get me, Blue Eyes." She teased at the fact that he hadn't wanted to 'hit' a 'girl' so asked her to instead. Not too long after, Bobby, Kitty, and Lance showed up and Lance took Evan off of Pietro's hands.  
  
Pietro raised and eyebrow. "The Acolyte's?" he questioned them curiously. Lance shrugged. "Dispersed." He told them, "And when we turned to look Logan was gone too. Someone should have watched him so we could take him back with us. But..." Lance trailed off and they all knew what he was thinking....what if Logan hadn't wanted to go back?  
  
Pietro was the first voice to break through their sad thoughts. "Kitty, Bobby?" he addressed the two youngest of the group he looked over at them. "Do you remember how to get back to the Jet?" he asked.  
  
"I think I remember," Bobby began and Kitty nodded and gave a thumbs up confirming that she remembered accurately. Pietro motioned for Lance to give Evan to the two teens whose mouths dropped open when they realized what they would be doing.  
  
"Don't argue." Pietro warned them and they both groaned, "I want you two to take Evan back to the X-Jet and stay there. Got it?" he asked them and they nodded glumly not wanted to be excluded from the 'mission' that had thus far gone completely wrong.  
  
Pietro reached into his pack and pulled out his walkie-talkie. Pressing a button static was heard. "Storm, come in," he spoke to get the woman's attention directed to her communicator. "Storm this is Quicksilver, come in please." He said and breathed a sigh of relief when she answered.  
  
"This is Storm, Quicksilver. Everything all right?" she asked softly yet curtly. "We're sending Kitty and Bobby back to you with an unconscious Evan. Can't say when the rest of us will be back. Kurt and Scott went to find a MIA Rouge and we encountered a woman who called herself the White Queen. Ever heard of her?" he asked in a very professional manner and it suddenly occurred to Lance how serious his best friend was about socking one to his father and his ideals.  
  
"Can't say I have." Storm said sounding worried about the relayed information but she knew she could count on the kids to come back in one piece. But things were starting to become more complicated than she had thought. "Anything else I should know?" she asked afraid slightly of his answers.  
  
"Yeah....the mission has been failed. Logan...attacked us and he escaped." He said not sounding too distressed over the fact. "Please contact us if something goes wrong, okay? And let me know when Kitty and Bobby get their safely with Evan. We'll try to find out more about what's going on and we'll continue to try and get inside his hideout. Quicksilver out." He said before cutting off their communication.  
  
He looked over at the two mutants that now had Evan propped up between them, "The same goes for both of you. Let me know when you get there or if something goes wrong." He told them and they nodded. "We," he motioned between Lance, Jean and himself, "need to go after Scott and Kurt." They were about to set off but had to pause and wait while Lance said goodbye to Kitty.  
  
"Be careful Kit-Kat." He said affectionately before leaning down and giving her a small kiss on the lips, pulling back with a smile on his face as the others waved them off and they left.  
  
Suddenly Pietro remembered the White Queen and turned back. Hands stretched forward he caused two strong looking roots to pull out of the ground from a nearby tree and with a flick of his wrist he had them wrapped tightly around the woman's bare legs. Lance looked over at him as they dropped down into the cave. "You're getting good at this."  
  
Rouge immediately tore the gag out of the blue woman's mouth, for some reason feeling a surge of trust towards her despite what she had done to her in the past. "Oh my God Mystique what are you doing here?" She demanded as she tried to unhook the straps that had Mystique tied down.  
  
The shape shifter coughed the moment that gag was out of her mouth though she did seem a bit drowsy. "I was here to get Pietro some more information." She said slowly, "But a new addition to Magneto's team just happens to be a telepath that goes by the name of White Queen, and she detected me. Rouge stop!" she ordered to the girl that was trying to free her.  
  
"Magneto sent her up there when you and Kurt fell through that trap. He sees everything that goes on in all of his hideouts. He'll be back soon, so stop wasting your time trying to free me." She watched as the girl stopped and continued speaking. "Now they are two envelopes in my left boot. One is a letter to Pietro, it's all of the information I have. Please see that he gets it before anyone else sees it, okay?" she and Rouge nodded. "The other one is some blue prints of the alarm and camera systems he's setting up in his other bases and the names and information of as many of his new recruits I could find, which aren't too many. Get those." She told the girl.  
  
Rouge obliged, kneeling down and slipping her hand into Mystique's boot and carefully put both of the heavy envelopes into her pack. "Now," Mystique said, "Empty your pack of everything but what you think you have to have." She ordered and watched Rough throw out an extra pair of glove and some matches, in favor of keeping the first aid instead.  
  
"Try to take as much of Magneto's things as possible, and quickly, make sure that they get to the Professor." She told the girl, who had grabbed one of the strange metal rings and various beakers and began to stuff them into the bag. When it was full she turned to the shape shifter once more.  
  
"What about you?" she asked, not ever having known the woman he was apparently her adoptive mother and was once the girl she had considered her best friend. Mystique shook her head. "No time," she said sadly before motioning Rogue to come closer to her. When she did so Rouge was surprised to receive a kiss on the top of her head by Mystique, and it apparently didn't directly touch her skin because Mystique then said, "I want you to know that I will always love you like a daughter, no matter what happens and even if you care so little for me."  
  
Rouge smiled at the woman sadly, "I'm so sorry." She said before turning to run. However she was stopped as a metal table flew towards her. "Logan!" she gasped as the man lunged for her, grabbing onto her shoulders as they flew into a wall of the house, breaking through it and sending them both tumbling outside.  
  
Wasting no time to ponder why the man had attacked her she simply kicked his stomach and was surprised to see she had sent him flying ten feet away from her and into the cold snow. She gasped as he simply just lunged at her once more. Yet he was stopped mid-jump by a jagged ray of red light that him forcefully in the side.  
  
Snapping her head to the side she smiled happily. "Scott!" she yelled to her boyfriend who spotted her and began to rush to her aid again. She, however, not wanting him to get hurt though she knew he could handle it, tossed him her pack. "Take care of it!" She shouted and then turned back to Logan.  
  
He growled at her dangerously and she noticed one of the metal devices secured around his neck. 'It must be controlling him!' she reasoned to herself and thought of a way to get it off. However her planning was put on hold as Logan calmed down and stood straighter....and for a moment nobody breathed.  
  
Than, Logan, amidst of the now falling snow and blowing winds lightly raised his hands to his neck, and somehow took the device off. He smiled at her somewhat regrettably, "How's that for shock factor?" he asked.  
  
Eyes wide and fearful Rouge backed away slowly her mouth hanging open in shock. Scott didn't seem to notice the incident however and Logan used the girl's shock state to his advantage and before she could move, lunged forward and snapped the necklace onto her, careful not to touch her neck or pierce her with his claws. This, however, Scott noticed.  
  
"Rouge!" he shouted to her frantically as her eyes became dull and lifeless. Everyone; Kurt, Mystique, Scott and even Logan were shocked when she rose into the air and flew at them viciously.  
  
Scott stood there somewhat lifelessly, "Oh no..." he whispered and the girl would have barreled into him had a flash of silver not quickly moved him out of harms way.  
  
"Do something!" yelled Pietro whom had just shown up with Lance and Jean and was in the process of unbinding Mystique. In moments she was free an all on battle against Rouge and Logan, one of the people someone that they had once trusted with their lives, and one who couldn't even help herself, raged on. Mystique wobbled on her legs and Pietro eased her safely onto the ground.  
  
"Lay low, Kay?" he more of informed her more than asked as he rushed off to help the others. However the moment he got there the fight had turned as Rouge's ungloved hand connected with Lance's face and he weakly fell to the ground. The look on the girls face said it all and Pietro found himself screaming, "AVALANCHE!" as she used Lance's powers to cause a large shakes of the mountain and slide of snow.  
  
Pietro rushed forward and grabbed Lance, practically tossing the larger boy through the broken wall. "Everyone get inside!" he shouted, assuming command along with Jean, seeing as Scott was busy trying to get Rouge to stay with them however she simply flew higher up into the air.  
  
Mystique weakly stood with a hammer and nails, quickly boarding a table to the break in the stone from Rouge's earlier ventures, along with Jean who was using her mind to hold it into place.  
  
After Pietro saw Kurt force Scott into the house he used frantically used his powers to toss up and bind random logs to the other opening, forgetting entirely to go I himself. "Aw shit!" he cursed upon realizing his mistake.  
  
Suddenly a slender hand shot through a crack in the logs. "Pietro!" Jean screamed out to him and he grabbed her hand. "Kurt will get you!" she shouted as slushy ice began to pour all around him.  
  
Turning his head he watched as Rouge flew up and away into the air. Away from them, Scott and the avalanche. And, if he had his guess, probably off to Magneto.....why Rouge?  
  
With his thoughts on his father he could only think of one possibly bigger asshole, and he was trying to run down the mountain. Pietro had other ideas,  
  
"YOU BASTARD!" he screamed and use the metal substance of Logan's claws to pull him hard enough into the wall next to him that he was knocked out, and Pietro's hand grabbed his arms at the exact moment that Kurt popped out and teleported them both in.  
  
Once inside Pietro first corrected the mistakes of the branches and then slumped next to the others in the sudden darkness the avalanche had caused by taking out the electricity.  
  
The first thing he said was directed to Scott, "Rouge's gone, I think the thing on her neck sent her to find Magneto." He said icily. Scott sighed heavily and no one spoke.  
  
"What about Logan?" Scott asked finally and his answer was Pietro's foot nudging the unconscious figure next to him. "We might get some unanswered questions...well answered." He said not really trying to be funny. He was too tired to be funny. Not to mention that he felt slightly bad that the 'White Queen' was still out tied to that tree....sort of.  
  
Finally he relaxed to in the darkness and grasped the feminine and shaky hand next to him with his left one. He couldn't help but tease, "Aw, is Jean afraid of the dark? Don't worry I'll protect you." He joked perhaps not too tired.  
  
"That's my hand Pietro." Mystiques said stonily. Pietro paused for a moment not letting go.  
  
"Jean can have my right hand then." he joked once again only to receive both Mystique's and Jean's hands lightly punching his shoulders. Sighing in mock exasperation he scooted closer where Jean actually sat and smiled at her when she lit a match.  
  
"Here." Kurt muttered silently and handed her some sort of metal can for her to put some matches in, in order to keep the room luminated. Jean, with a swipe of her hand, brought the table that had been tossed at Rouge over to them to lean back on as she watched Pietro move forward and melt down certain metal substances.  
  
Amazingly enough he was going to use them to bound Logan but Mystique stopped him and hauled Logan over to the place she was strapped up in and did the same to him. And that was that.  
  
Pietro walked back next to Jean and slumped, tired and out of breath, against the table. The silence was thick as everyone thought about Rouge and Logan. Especially Rouge. Pietro's little crack to lighten the mood hadn't gone unappreciated...it just hadn't helped. And he had his own things to worry about. Like what was Mystique doing there?  
  
He turned to ask her but she anticipated his question. "I'll tell you later." She said to him knowing that it was not something she had time to write during the letter, no matter how important it was. She hadn't thought she'd live to get out of there at all. Noticing Kurt with his head down she surprised herself by moving over to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. But he surprised her even more when he hugged back. The silence reigned once more.  
  
Suddenly there was static and Pietro reached over with his left hand, Jean's hand somehow finding the way into his right, and pulled his walkie- talkie to his lips.  
  
"Yeah?" he asked. The answer was first static and then, "Hey it's Kitty." Said a bright perky voice, "Just wanted to let you know that we got back safe and sound!"  
  
Pietro sighed as he slumped back down again and the communicator switched to let him talk. "Oh," he muttered, "That's good." And then it went off and no one spoke once more.  
  
**DigitalAngel4U:** Okay hope I got the ball moving with that one and I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've been taking a small break. After writing this chapter I was able to give the story more direction and I left more questions to be answered next time! Hopefully you guys like it and more things will be explained next time. Also, I did research on the White Queen and from what I know of she wasn't a bad guy! But I don't think that Wanda or Pietro were either so I kinda of fitted it to my needs! Hope you aren't too upset about that! And if you know anything useful about her let me know! And don't worry Reye (Pam) I'm working your character into the mix as we speak! Please Review I'd love to hear what you think!


	11. A Heart to Heart and A last Goodbye

**Disclaimer:** I do not own X-men: Evolution or any of its characters, I only own the plot. The content of this story is not meant to offend anyone and has been written purely for your enjoyment. So please....enjoy it! Plus I noticed some mistakes in my last chapter that I'm kind of trying to correct in here. See if you notice!

When Jean finally woke she had no way of telling if it were still night or now early morning. Due to the snow around the openings and the useless electricity either was possible. However the light's only slightly dimming shine told her the hours had not been flying by. Not to mention the limp hand resting in her own. Pietro was out like a light. And he was usually such a morning person.

Hearing an annoyed grunt she turned her head to the metal table that Mystique had earlier occupied, which was now the captor of another. The grunt was familiar to her ears. Slipping up off the floor she gently let go of Pietro's hand and laid the blue eyed boy on the ground.

Before going to the table she turned to make sure the others were accounted for. All of them were there and sleeping comfortably save for Scott, whose restless sleep was more than likely worry induced. She felt for him she really did.....if that had been......Pietro.

"Wolverine," She greeted the struggling man as coldly as someone of her kindness could. She felt she could no longer call him the more affectionate term of 'Mr. Logan.' "Anything you'd care to chit chat about?" she asked, the tendrils of betrayal and hurt crept into her speech and stung painfully at Logan's conscience.

Looking over at his......ex student perhaps? It hurt to think that he would no longer be teaching them. However he knew that he could not dwell on sad thoughts. What he saw of the White Queen's condition would not last and if he wanted to tell Jean the truth he would have to hurry. So he nodded.

"Ask away." He instructed and watched as Jean's face to on an angered look as if she thought he should know what her question was.

"Why?" she asked him.

Simple enough question right? Well it depended on what you thought of as simple. He could parry around the subject and risk drawing the White Queen's attention or he could hurry and explain as much as he could to the one person that may actually listen.

"For you." He told her quickly, "I did it for the all of you." At this he nodded to the students sleeping scattered on the floor. Jean crossed her arms.

"Oh really? Because guess who isn't here Wolverine?" She huffed at him.

'She spends way too much time with that Maximoff boy.' He noted irritably at the sudden change in her demeanor.

"That's right." She answered for him, "Rouge isn't here. Care to explain that?" she demanded of him.

"Out of all people you should know when to shut up and listen." He told her. This DID shut her up....now he could only hope she would listen.

"Magneto is growing in power. And I do not mean his ranks. He as an individual has learnt how to kill a number of people by controlling the iron in their blood. Imagine what you could do to a person with that kind of power." He told her.

She shook her head, "Where do you fit into this?" she asked though she felt that she should know the answer like when you still got excited over the end of a predictable movie or novel.

"Let's just say my students were my biggest weakness and his easiest targets." He told her refusing to meet her eyes. "He threatened to kill you all if I didn't give him a hand in his plans."

"And how has that been going, by the way?" she asked curious to know. A quick peak in his brain revealed that he had yet to lie.

"Magneto thinks he has me brainwashed. But I learned how to defeat his little obedience collars after watching them be assembled. I rigged the one I was wearing to only work for thirty minutes. Sorry about the attacking you thing, by the way." He explained.

"So Rouge......" Jean trailed off looking at Logan's sheepish expression.

"Has hopefully already come to her senses and flown away from where she was headed." He told the now happy looking girl.

"Why are you telling me all of this now?" she asked him, "Aren't we all still in some sort of mortal danger?" Logan nodded grimly.

"Sadly yes." He told her, "The goons of the Acolyte think that I am a perfect Magneto abiding brain washee. But Mags wasn't taking any chances. He was too smart for that. So he sicked the only telepath that could rival Xavier on me. Her name is Emma Frost better known as-"

"The White Queen yeah I know." Jean told him grimacing at the brief flashback to knocking out the blonde haired woman. Logan smiled at her face.

"With her unconscious as I saw her, she won't be able to know if I leaked information to you or not. I suppose Magneto didn't think she'd get taken out in battle." He informed her.

"Are there any other recruits we should know about?" Jean asked him knowing that he spoke the truth and having her mind constantly monitor and register his words and thoughts. If ever there was a time to use her powers it was now.

"None that I can tell you about for sure, Magneto still doesn't trust me, so he's been keeping all his newer recruits hidden. But I did over hear him talking to the White Queen about having someone break into the mansion. That's all I know about that. Be sure to tell Chuck to watch his back." He told her glancing around as if someone were watching them, though Jean could understand his paranoia.

"Just a few more things, Logan." She told him quickly and it lightened his heart to know that she could call him that.....he knew she believed him. "What were they going to do to Mystique?" she asked him gesturing to the blue skinned mutant and the table he lay on.

"Magneto's got this doctor guy working for him. If he's a mutant or not I don't know. But he's found a way to use other mutant's powers by extracting the X-gene form their blood and putting it into that of a humans. It's how Magneto plans on spreading his army. Making humans think they've suddenly become mutants, and then generously offering them a haven with him, in exchange for their help. Mystique was going to be his first victim, but he didn't get the chance from what I can see. If he had succeeded he probably would have killed her. That was why he wanted me to kidnap Rogue. And can you imagine more than one of her?" He asked and by his tone Jean knew he wasn't meaning it in the joking way. If Magneto had that ability then he would be going after the stronger mutants......that would mean....

"You better protect that boy." Logan's voice broke gruffly through her thoughts s he sent a glance towards Pietro. "And while I know that Chuck's afraid of training him, you'd rather have him powerful and on your side than having him go off on his own because he felt betrayed that you didn't tell him the extent of his powers. Both him and his sister could be in some real danger."

.

"Logan," She began slowly, "Will this be the last time I ever get to see you?" She asked him, thoughts of life before trouble had brewed came rushing into her mind, as unexpected as water being dumped over your head and as sad as visiting a grave.

She nearly cried when Logan nodded his head, "I don't want you, or the other's to think that I betrayed you. I couldn't live.....or die if I knew that was what you thought of me." He told her.

"I swear Logan; I'll make sure no one thinks of you as anything more than one of the bravest most self-sacrificing people I know." Once again they loped into a comfortable silence as Jean walked over to the boards covering the broken stone. Pietro had had to meld them to the wall seeing as nails couldn't exactly crack the stone. An embarrassing feat on Mystique's behalf.

"Is the avalanche over you think?" she asked him. He nodded at her listening for any sound of snow outside.

"It should be by now." he told her as she walked over to him. Surprising him by unhooking his confinements.

"I sense two more people's minds present. One of them could be the White Queen you're talking about. If she comes here, I don't want her to find you." Before long Logan was free, and so was one of the boards blocking their make shift exit. "So I would leave now Logan." She told him sadly.

Reaching forward she gave him a tight hug and pulled away. "If there's anything you want to say, say it right now." She told him, causing him to pause and look at the sleeping members of her party on the floor.

"Tell the kids I'm going to miss them, tell Ororo and Hank to never change, and tell Chuck....that I said thank you....for everything." He looked at the ground once more, "Just in case." Whispered before looking at her.

By now she was crying, not even trying to hold in the tears. 'Yeah," she repeated red eyed, "Just in case." She knew, and he knew, that the White Queen was looking for him. That she must of heard something. "Goodbye." She said to him. And as she watched him run out the opening, she had this weird feeling that it would be the last time she ever saw him alive.

She bowed her heads, when suddenly two arms wrapped around her waist and a head was placed on her shoulder. She smiled through the tears.

"Were you asleep at all?" she asked to the person, a smile on her face.

"Nah." Pietro told her, "And the strange thing is....I believe him too." He spun her around softly and hugged her. Looking down at her he swooped down and caught her dry lips with his own, wiping her tears away with his hand. "It'll be okay." He told her. And she wondered if it would be, and she wondered if she would ever cry again with him around. Gaining the strength she needed she nodded at him.

"We better get going not that the avalanche is over." She told him as she walked back over to their friends, surprised to see him shake his head no.

"I'm going to contact Storm and her come over here, that way we can check out the house and stuff." He told her, his mind averting back to the task at hand. "Plus if Rouge comes back we should be here. Not to mention that if what you said about the White Queen is true we might have company...." He trailed off and she nodded knowing where he was going with this.

She nodded, "Then we stay." She said, not quite sure what words to follow it up with......if there were any.

**DigitalAngel4U:** Okay sucky I know and short, but colorguard is eating away at my existence immensely and I'm pressed for time. Not to mention the action scene I had in mind didn't seem to fit for this chapter, which explains it's shortness and yeah Reye....hmm breaking into the mansion wonder who that could be lol. Well I'll try to put another one up when I have the time and next chapter I'll get more into Rouge's powers etc. And notice how I keep changing the spelling of her name. It's been a while since I updated and I forgot my incorrect way of spelling it! So let me know how you want it spelled and I'll do it like that! I hope you enjoyed what I wrote and let me know what you think! Good or bad, all is welcome!


	12. More Than Ready

** Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters from the cartoon X-men: Evolution and only own the fic and its idea. This story is not meant to offend anyone and was written purely for your enjoyment so please enjoy it!

"So I let him go." Jean finished looking at the ground. The X-men stood assembled in the trashed room that had been there fighting grounds previously. She looked over at the faces of all of them after explaining the conversation she had with Logan only hours before. At first, none of them were certain that they believed her…but then Rouge had come stumbling in with Ororo and the others and she was forced to retell the tale.

Scott stood tall with his hands clenched at his sides. Rouge couldn't tell just what he was thinking but she had an idea. So as Ororo began to divide them into groups in order to search the premises she pulled her sullen boyfriend off to the side.

"Scott…you couldn't have known," she told him, having judged by the guilty look on his face that he felt bad for not trying to talk to Logan.

"Yeah…" he trailed of slightly, "but this is Logan we're talking about. I mean I SHOULD have known. If he dies Rouge….I'll have to live the rest of my life knowing that I never got to say goodbye…"

Rouge shook her head sadly. "Oh Scott…" leaning forward she pulled him into a hug. There was nothing she could do to take away his pain.

"Yeah so this blows." Lance muttered as he and Pietro wandered to the top levels of the house. Pietro zipped over to two large wooden doors that he suspected was the master bedroom of the house.

"What are you doing?" Lance asked his younger friend as he scanned the other rooms for anything remotely useful and found nothing.

Pietro paused for a moment his hand on the door. "I just…I mean I know we already checked him but I just want to see if there's anything that this man left behind…any family at all…just so we can give him some sort of retribution. I mean…my father is the reason he's dead. So I feel like I owe him something I guess."

Lance nodded understanding his sentiments. "Look Pietro you should never feel responsible for what your father does. Y'all are not alike. I know that when you and Wanda were still fighting you let that get to you. But you shouldn't. Okay?"

Pietro nodded. "Yeah…come on let's look through this room." He twisted the bronze handle and shoved against the doors, powers forgotten.

Hank let his gaze shift around all of them chemicals that littered the main room of the household. He had brought cases for just this occasion though he had not actually suspected to find anything of the sort. It seemed Magneto was taking this to the next level.

"So what do you suppose we do with this new information?" Ororo asked him interrupting his thoughts. He crossed his arms and tilted his head as he looked at the packaged devices and potions.

"Well I first want to see if we can call Forge in to experiment with these control devices. Find out how they were assembled and how to disrupt their purpose. Technology isn't my best field. I suppose that Mystique will be a big help." He told her.

"Do you think we can trust her?" she asked him as they grabbed the cases and took them into the X-jet strapping them down into the back. Her distaste for the woman was obvious, as they had quarreled much in the past.

Hank nodded, "All of her information thus far has been reliable. Not to mention that she now has something else to hold against Magneto other that what he did to Kurt. She knows that she can't do this alone. Plus she obviously wants to help Pietro and Wanda in their crusade against their father."

Storm nodded. "So what's next?" she asked him with a far away look in her eyes. Hank could only guess she was thinking about Logan.

"My guess is that we might want to start training more. Do some recruiting and allying, hopefully we can get the word out in the political world. Try infiltrating anywhere Magneto has chosen to send his new troops."

"No politician is going to listen to us." Ororo told him with a sigh. "And if they do then they'll use it against us. If one mutant is bad then they'll assume all of us are. How can we put that kind of pressure on the kids?" Hank nodded.

"That's where I can help you." Said an alto voice from behind them. They looked over to see Mystique. "This is going to get bloody. If I have to take out a politician to get the word across to the public don't think I won't. You may not want to have a part in something like that, but I know you'll take one."Hank and Ororo shared a look knowing she was right.

"And as for the children." She continued, "You weren't there when this all went down. I was." She paused looking thoughtful for a moment. "You should have seen the way they sprung into action. Thinking ahead, taking cautions of the dangers, looking out for one another. I know that Pietro is ready. And after awhile….the others will be too."

Storm nodded, "Then the sooner we get home the better. We need to conference with the Professor." She paused and looked at Mystique before smiling. She jumped into the co-pilot seat of the X-jet, the other left open for Scott. She held out a hand to Mystique. "Our home is your home should you choose to stick around."

Mystique smiled before taking her hand. "With my boys there? You couldn't get rid of me." She informed the woman. Hank clasped his hands together.

"I'll just go round up the children then I suppose." Turning on his heel, he left the two women to talk.

Pietro pushed open a trunk in the cozy looking room as he and Lance continued to rummage around for evidence of the man's life. So far he had found only one thing….his name. Edward Rummins.

"Pietro!" Lance called from the adjoined bathroom. Pietro sat down the deed to the land that had the man's name before zipping over to Lance.

"What?" he asked his friend who showed him a framed picture on the bathroom counter. He picked it up to get a better look. A slightly younger version of the man stood next to a hospital bed. Pietro knew it was him simply because he would never get that man's face out of his head. He had seen dead bodies before. But never before had he felt so responsible for the death of an innocent person. Not since that little girl…..

The man stood next to a young woman and young man who were both smiling fondly at the bundled white blankets in his arms. A small baby.

"Grandchild?" Lance asked from behind him snapping Pietro out of his thoughts. Pietro shrugged.

"Maybe," he said, "but remember that we didn't find a ring on the man."

"They could have lifted it off him. From what I know Gambit always liked to steal." Lance told him. But Pietro shook his head.

"Yeah but there were no marks on his finger…." He trailed off to himself.

"Look." Lance motioned for him to come to the drawer he pulled out from a built in cabinet. In his hand there was a gold wedding band, "To my one true love-Sara." Lance said reading the inscription.

Pietro smiled, "I guess Magneto didn't do as good of a job cleaning up as I thought he did."

The door then swung open and Hank walked in, "You boys find anything?" he asked and Lance made the ring disappear for someone reason worried that Hank my find it trivial that they were searching for the man's family ties.

"Not really." He answered quickly and Pietro raised an eyebrow at him but nodded all the same.

"Okay. Then were going to head out. You boys are the last so we should get going." Hank told them.

"Sure thing." Pietro told him snatching the ring and zipping to get the picture and papers.Hank didn't even notice. So they rushed from the room. Pietro looking back only once, with a sharp pain in his heart.

"Are we going to destroy this place?" he asked Hank regrettably. He did not portray his feelings aloud when the mutant nodded solemnly.

"I'm afraid we have no choice. While the chances are slim we can't take the risk that Magneto might come back." He told the two teens.

"How are you going to manage that?" Lance asked incredulously, "we can't burn it, we could start a forest fire."

Hank nodded, "That's a good question." Pietro suddenly perked up.

"I have an idea!" he exclaimed as they finally reached the jet.

"Which is?" Lance trailed off. Pietro waved a dismissive hand in his direction.

"Get me Iceboy and Storm and I'll show you." He told them.

"Ready Bobby?" he asked the younger mutant who nodded, hands outstretched. Suddenly rain poured from the sky in huge amounts due to Storm as he and Bobby began to turn it into ice on contact.

Pietro had made them all fill every room with snow and proceeded to freeze it into a chilly ice like fortress knowing the temperature would keep it that way.

When they finished the outside they boarded the jet once more and admired their work.

"Can't Pyro just burn it down?" Bobby asked Pietro as they made their way to their seats.

"If he does then he'll cause a forest fire and they will destroy the whole house. Which just defeat the whole purpose." He informed the young teen.

He let his eyes travel to Mystique who held the back of a chair for support as the other chairs were full of equipment and cases. She was bloody and tired and he'd be damned if she was going to stand. He pulled her arm and sat her down in his chair.

"Pietro," she began.

"I'll stand." He told her firmly as he grabbed a support pole near the back. Jean smiled at his kindness before grabbing him and pulling him into her lap knowing she could take his weight.

"Or you could sit here." She offered. He smiled at her and placed a quick kiss on her lips.

"Or I could just sit here," he agreed, laughing when Bobby made a retching noise causing Kitty to smack him on the side of the head.

"I'll let Jubilee know you think relationships are nasty," she told him with a smirk. He glared at her for a moment.

"….Shut up…." He said before turning back to the front and crossing his arms.

"Can we go now children?" Scott asked exasperatedly from the front.

"Yes sir!" they all chided in unison before strapping up as the X-jet lifted off the ground and began to head back to New York.

Things had been resituated once they got back. A meeting was held with everyone, non X-men members included. They would need them all for this case. Mystique's presence and Logan's absence were both explained and a room was set up for her. Once everything had been discussed they were all sent to dinner as many of the mutants that had gone on the missions had schoolwork to do. The grieving over their missing instructor could finally take place. But there was one thing that Pietro had left to do.

Pushing the doors to the Professor office open slowly, Pietro slipped through. He had waited for the others to clear out. The whole thing felt somewhat personal.

"Umm Professor?" he began getting the man's attention to him as he took a seat in front of his large oak desk, too tired to stand.

"Is there something I can do for yo Pietro?" he asked the young mutant before him who suddenly looked grimmer than he did on previous visits. Pietro noticed that there was a packet on his desk that he could only assume were the mutant's identities that were new to Magneto's ranks. Something he figured would later be discussed.

"Yes actually." He slid the picture, papers and ring that he and Lance had found in the house to the Professor. "You see…Magneto had the man who lived in that house killed. I know because my search team found his body….I wanted to see if you could find out who the people in that picture were so that we could tell them that he was gone. We didn't have time to really salvage the body…." He trailed off ashamed that they had left it behind.

The Professor had gone quiet as he looked at the pictures. Pietro sat up taller. "What is it?" he asked knowing something was wrong.

Xavier shook his head slowly, "I knew this man. As did your father. He was…an old college friend of ours."

Pietro couldn't really find any words of comfort. "So why did he have him killed?" he asked as the professor pursed his lips.

"He never was one of Eric's favorite people. I suppose that in his eyes he was disposable." He told him.

"Was he a mutant?" Pietro asked now interested even more in the situation.

"No, that he was not. But he was a firm believer that both mutant and men could one day live together. Perhaps another reason Eric decided to get rid of him."

"So who are these people? His children?" Pietro asked and Xavier nodded.

"Yes and all three of them are mutants. I suppose that telling them will be inevitable…and perhaps they will be willed to help us. But I won't suggest it." Xavier looked at the picture solemnly.

"Pietro I know that this is a big battle for you. If you ever wish to speak to me…."

Pietro cut him off as he stood up. "I know Professor. Thank you." He proceeded to leave. The door shutting softly behind him.

The professor sighed sadly as he looked into his friends smiling photograph. "Anytime."

** DigitalAngel4U: **Okay hope you liked that. I want to make this kind of fun. If anyone has any characters that they want to be in Magneto's ranks or they want to make up the identities and powers for the man's family than e-mail me or review with them. If you don't I'll make them up myself but I just thought this would be a fun way to get you all involved. Please let me know what you think. Good, bad all is welcome!


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